Released 5th November 2021.

On her 2018 debut album Lush, seventeen-year-old Lindsey Jordan sang “I’m
in full control / I’m not lost / Even when it’s love / Even when it’s not”. Her natural
ability to be many things at once resonated with a lot of people. The contradiction of
confidence and vulnerability, power and delicacy, had the impact of a wrecking ball
when put to tape. It was an impressive and unequivocal career-making moment for
Jordan. 

On Valentine, her sophomore album out November 5th on Matador, Lindsey
solidifies and defines this trajectory in a blaze of glory. In 10 songs, written over
2019-2020 by Jordan alone, we are taken on an adrenalizing odyssey of genuine
originality in an era in which 'indie' music has been reduced to gentle, homogenous
pop composed mostly by ghost writers. Made with careful precision, Valentine shows
an artist who has chosen to take her time. The reference points are broad and
psychically stirring, while the lyrics build masterfully on the foundation set by
Jordan’s first record to deliver a deeper understanding of heartbreak.

On “Ben Franklin”, the second single of the album, Jordan sings “Moved on,
but nothing feels true / Sometimes I hate her just for not being you / Post rehab I’ve
been feeling so small / I miss your attention, I wish I could call”. It’s here that she
mourns a lost love, conceding the true nature of a fleeting romantic tie-up and
ultimately, referencing a stay in a recovery facility in Arizona. This 45-day interlude
followed issues stemming from a young life colliding with sudden fame and success.
Since she was not allowed to bring her instruments or recording equipment, Jordan
began tabulating the new album arrangements on paper solely out of memory and
imagination. It was after this choice to take radical action that Valentine really took its
unique shape. 

Jordan took her newfound sense of clarity and calm to Durham, North
Carolina, along with the bones of a new album. Here she worked with Brad Cook
(Bon Iver, Waxahatchee). For all the album’s vastness and gravity, it was in this
small home studio that Jordan and Cook chipped away over the winter of early 2021
at co-producing a dynamic collection of genre-melding new songs, finishing it
triumphantly in the spring. They were assisted by longtime bandmates Ray Brown
and Alex Bass, as well as engineer Alex Farrar, with a live string section added later
at Spacebomb Studios in Richmond. 

Leaning more heavily into samples and synthesizers, the album hinges on a
handful of remarkably untraditional pop songs. The first few seconds of opener and
title track ‘Valentine’ see whispered voice and eerie sci-fi synth erupt into a stadium-
sized, endorphin-rush of a chorus that is an overwhelming statement of intent. “Ben
Franklin”, “Forever (Sailing)” and “Madonna” take imaginative routes to the highest
peaks of catchiness. Jordan has always sung with a depth of intensity and
conviction, and the climactic pop moments on Valentine are delivered with such a
tenet and a darkness and a beauty that’s noisy and guttural, taking on the singularity
that usually comes from a veteran artist.

As captivating as the synth-driven songs are, it’s the more delicate moments
like “Light Blue”, “c.et. al.” and “Mia” that distill the albums range and depth. “Baby
blue, I’m so behind / Can’t make sense of the faces in and out of my life / Whirling
above our daily routines / Both buried in problems, baby, honestly” Jordan sings on
“c. et. al.” with a devastating certainty. These more ethereal, dextrously finger-picked
folk songs peppered in throughout the album are nuanced in their vocal delivery and
confident in their intricate arrangement. They come in like a breath of air, a moment
to let the mind wander, but quickly drown the listener in their melodic alchemy and
lyrical punch. 

The album is rounded out radiantly by guitar-driven rock songs like
“Automate”, “Glory” and “Headlock”. Reminiscent of Lush but with a marked tonal
shift, Jordan again shows her prowess as a guitar player with chorus-y leads and
rhythmic, wall-of-sound riffs. “Headlock” highlights this pivot with high-pitched
dissonance and celestially affected lead parts – “Can’t go out I’m tethered to /
Another world where we’re together / Are you lost in it too?”, she sings with grit and
fatigue, building so poignantly on her sturdy foundation of out-and-out melancholy.
On Valentine, we are taken 100 miles deeper into the world Jordan created
with Lush, led through passageways and around dark corners, landing somewhere
we never dreamed existed. 

Today, in the wake of recording Valentine, Jordan is focused on trying to
continue healing without slowing down. The album comes in the midst of so much
growth, in the fertile soil of a harrowing bottom-out. On the heels of life-altering
success, a painful breakup and 6 weeks in treatment, Jordan appears vibrant and
sharp. “Mia, don’t cry / I love you forever / But I gotta grow up now / No I can’t keep
holding onto you anymore” she sings on the album closer “Mia”. She sings softly but
her voice cuts through like a hacksaw. The song is lamenting a lost love, saying a
somber goodbye, and it closes the door on a bitter cold season for Jordan. Leaving
room for a long and storied path, Valentine is somehow a jolt and a lovebuzz all at
once. - Katie Crutchfield

Dinked Edition 144
● Pink & gold galaxy vinyl LP 
● Milk white flexi with ‘Adore You’ demo 
● 12” x 12” print 
● Numbered sleeve
● Limited pressing of 1000