If you look at my favourite album per year list, both of these artists have already had a year’s best album this decade. The two albums this week are the sequels, and they’re both excellent.
Avalon Emerson
Written Into Changes
2026, 9/10
San Francisco’s Avalon Emerson made her reputation as a DJ. But she used the advice of Jeff Tweedy’s book How To Write One Song to start a career as a vocalist and songwriter, her ethereal voice floating over dream-pop melodies. 2023’s & the Charm was an excellent surprise, charming in its low-key tentativeness. Written Into Changes is more confident, with fuller arrangements and more assured vocals. Sometimes it recalls 1980s sophisti-pop.
It’s almost like one of the last things we have is to get together and be excited about music and be excited about new bands and going out with your friends to see them. It’s one of the last things it feels we have that is not looking at the little glowing screen in your pocket. It feels good to be part of that.
Avalon Emerson, The Line of Best Fit
‘Written Into Changes’ is full of great moments, including:
- ‘Happy Birthday’, with the line “Too young to die / Too old to break through”. It’s delivered with typical etherealness, making her meaning ambiguous.
- ‘How Dare This Beer’, a mildly barbed paean to home comforts.
- The unexpected synth break on ‘God Damn (Finito)’ nods to her dance floor heritage.
It’s almost unfair to pick out highlights on such an even album – it flows through ten excellent tracks.
2023’s Avalon Emerson & the Charm was an unexpected surprise. Written Into Changes is an assured sequel.
Snail Mail
Ricochet
2026, 8.5/10
It’s been a long time since Lindsey Jordan released Valentine in 2021. In the interim, she faced health issues that threatened to derail her career. She explained to MusicRadar “I had vocal polyps. It was really intense. I didn’t sleep for an entire month. There was no sound coming out.” She’s back with a different-sounding voice for Ricochet – it’s a little unnerving at first.
But apart from the difference in vocal timbre, it’s business as usual for Jordan. She delivers excellent songs with guitar punch and angst derived from 1990s alt-rock. ‘Tractor Beam’ is a great opener, even if it sounds like a little like POTUSA’s ‘Peaches’…
‘Dead End’ is a taut rocker, with some sing-along “na na nas” thrown in for good measure.
Jordan’s guitar is central to most of the songs, but she also arranged the strings and played mellotron on ‘My Maker’.
Snail Mail is one of the most talented songwriters we have at the moment, and ‘Ricochet’ is another strong entry in her catalogue.
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Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:
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Emerson sounds good, will have to investigate more.
I really like her – two strong albums in a row.
Both artists are new to me. Based on my initial impression after sampling a few tracks from each album, Snail Mail (Lindsay Jordan) sounds more up my alley than Avalon Emerson, though I will say “Eden” kind of did draw me in!
Thanks for listening- two of my favourites from recent years.
Avalon Emerson….that is awesome! I really like that. The intro with that tremolo hooked me. I love their sound. I will listen to some more.
Snail Mail…very 1990s sounding to me…at least influenced. Tractor Beam I like…it’s full and powerful… really the same goes to Dead End…Two thumbs up on both of these artists.
Cool – Emerson’s a bit outside what you usually feature, but I think she writes good songs, and I like her voice.
There are a few current artists mining that 1990s sound – I’ve heard it called SherylCrowCore. Soccer Mommy is another.
I like the 90s sound, much more than the decade before…so it felt comfortable off the bat. I have noticed that…before it was an 80s sound a few years ago …now the 90s.