Ahead of an epic five-night residency in her hometown, Jordan shares her favorite Baltimore spots.
We would be far from the first publication to call Lindsey Jordan , akaSnail Mail , a wunderkind . The Ellicott City , Maryland native began her career in 2015 the mature old age of 15 , give out onto drop her first studio album , Lush , to swell eclat in 2018 . In late 2021 , Jordan ’s second effort , Valentine , hit the charts , pushing the now-23 - yr - old indie rock favorite squarely out of the teenage anomalousness category and launching her into the glare as one of the Baltimore domain ’s most popular transcription artists .
Now fully recovered from a surgery that put theValentinetour on handle , Jordan is return to the city that give Snail Mail its start with an epic five - night Valentine ’s Day weekend showdown at fan - favorite venue , Ottobar , from February 10 - 14 . Featuring a tight arrangement of Baltimore ’s hunky-dory up - and - coming bit and yet - to - be - announced big hitters , Valentine Festpromises to be a melodious love alphabetic character to Charm City — much like these reflection straight from Jordan herself .
Valentine Fest has been in the works for over a class . It was supposed to happen closer to when the criminal record hail out , but then I got surgery on my outspoken cords and I had to take an insane amount of time off of speaking and singing .
Paul R. Giunta/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
The initial conception was for there to be three ring every night , some more noted than Snail Mail and some that we wanted to introduce to people . It was a lot of trial and error , asking everyone who I want to be part of it , but it all came together pretty nicely without a lot of pulling teeth .
We have n’t played Baltimore in a tenacious time , so it feels cool to do something enceinte here and put our friends ' bands on , and also have some legends come out . We ’ve played theOttobarso many times — it ’s always been the spot . I ’ve been cash in one’s chips there since I was a teenager , so it seemed like the only result . There are a lot of creative spots in Baltimore we could have set up at , but Ottobar is the zone .
I discovered Baltimore as a adolescent . My mom used to take me to appearance there , and then I met some friends that were college - senesce when I was in in high spirits school that had cable car . As soon as I became friends with those people , I begin going to DIY and house show in the urban center all the time . When I got my license , I was always there . Other than the tourist destinations , field head trip to the aquarium and stuff , I was n’t super intimate until I start being interested in the scene . And then it was just instant .
The Ottobar
There ’s a lot of really great maculation there , so many great bands at the time , and now , and always . I got kind of obsessed with the rich musical history . I did n’t do it anything about that until I start delve into the theme , started going to the platter storage and making friends and learn what was up .
A mass of my protagonist live near HampdenandCharles Village . There are some sick spots there , record shop class likeTrue VineandSound Garden . There ’s a taproom , Clavel , that I ’ve been really into . I really care this station , W.C. Harlan . It ’s not divey , but it ’s kind of like a dungeon , which is cool . But I feel like the time I spent really rocking with the scene , I was n’t old enough to drink .
I used to go to that place , Golden West , a lot for breakfast . That place is green goddess . There ’s a diner , Sip & Bite , in Canton , the really bougie part now . Then there were some diners in Fells Point that I used to really like .
The Sound Garden
Crab , that ’s kind of the Baltimore food . And Natty Boh beer , Old Bay . But yeah , I detest seafood . I ’ve tried — I’m always test oysters and shit . It ’s the consistence . I feel like whenever we have friends come to Ithiel Town , I have sex the ballad of the land enough to be like , “ All right , permit ’s go to this seafood place , ” but then I ’m like , “ I ’ll get a beer . ”
I experience like everything about Baltimore is just sicker . There was so much to look into , all the musicians that came out of Baltimore . I feel like it ’s an untellable unique smudge where people come up together to be unearthly . There ’s so many great loony from the past , and I like that there is n’t a specific sound . I ’ve been to a lot of data-based dissonance - type show , punk display , awesome indie rock — it ’s all over the seat . It ’s a situation where people , historically , have had permission to be weird .
The artwork jack there is nerveless . John Waters , I ’m a huge fan of him . And there ’s a lot of really coolheaded art museums and stuff — fucking David Byrne went to MICA . I date a little girl who made me go to the MICA showcases . There was this museum that I used to go to with my mommy all the time , theAmerican Visionary Art Museum . It was like an outsider art museum . It had all these self-aggrandizing strong-arm displays , and I remember there was this guy cable who ramp up a ship out of matchstick , a hyper - naturalistic , mammoth ship .
Sip & Bite Diner
The setting that I experienced , at least here , were just a lot of truthful artist , masses that were not concerned with being famous , which have a grown difference . In New York , it ’s like everybody ’s grind to make it , which I just call up is really cringe . Even when we started , it was n’t to make it . We were just cool , we were just having fun , and I feel like that ’s the nature of Baltimore . I never matte up I was beleaguer by people that were trying to be big stars — it was echt originative energy , which is much more inspiring to me .
I got lucky in the sense that it did work out for me , but it started from a blank space of being inspired by the people around me , and just wanting to be part of something . That ethos carries me still . It makes me finger ground to get laid that that ’s who I am and where I ’m at at all times , and anytime I fall off from that , I attempt to bring myself back .
