Snail Mail’s new album, Ricochet, is out this Friday, March 27. Last night, Lindsey Jordan and her band stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon to debut the LP’s opening track, “Tractor Beam.” They shared the stage with a life-sized statue of a two-headed lamb, ostensibly a reference to Laura Gilpin’s poem “The Two-Headed Calf,” which Jordan previously cited as an inspiration on Ricochet.
Jordan and Elsie Richter co-directed the music video for “Tractor Beam,” which was shot on a New Jersey sheep farm. “I wanted the first song on ‘Ricochet’ to be somewhat hopeful, while also balancing some of the heavier themes of the record,” Jordan said in press materials. “I got inspired by Gregg Araki’s adaptation of Mysterious Skin and the use of alien abduction as a metaphor for lost time because of disassociation.” Watch the “Tractor Beam” video and Snail Mail’s Fallon performance below.
The follow-up to 2021’s Valentine, Ricochet has been led by the singles “Dead End” and “My Maker.” Next month, Jordan will kick off her tour in support of the record, where she’ll be joined by openers including Sharp Pins, Avalon Emerson & the Charm, and Swirlies at shows across Europe and North America.
Read about the title track from Valentine at No. 8 in The 100 Best Songs of 2021.
