Snail Mail Ricochet
Snail Mail's Ricochet arrives as a reintroduction, a grown-up recalibration that trades lo-fi immediacy for widescreen arrangements and cleaner, more assured vocals. Across 12 professional reviews the record earned a 74.42/100 consensus score, and critics consistently point to a group of standout songs that anchor Lind
The best song is "Dead End" because it serves as the radiant lead single and emotional touchstone of the album.
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Full consensus notes
Snail Mail's Ricochet arrives as a reintroduction, a grown-up recalibration that trades lo-fi immediacy for widescreen arrangements and cleaner, more assured vocals. Across 12 professional reviews the record earned a 74.42/100 consensus score, and critics consistently point to a group of standout songs that anchor Lindsey Jordan's shift: “Tractor Beam”, “Dead End”, “My Maker”, “Hell” and the closing “Reverie” repeatedly surface as the best songs on Ricochet for their melodic clarity and emotional weight.
Reviewers praise the album's sonic expansion - string-enhanced arrangements, shoegaze textures and 90s dream-pop influence - as the backdrop for themes of existential inquiry, moving on and self-discovery. Critics note that where earlier records foregrounded wounded detail, Ricochet leans into orchestration and production to translate private ache into broader reflection. Several reviews highlight Jordan's wider vocal range and sharper guitar work, and professional reviews agree that the record's strongest moments balance melancholy with resilience, turning alienation and recovery into songs that linger rather than hit immediately.
That consensus is not uniform: some critics find stretches repetitive or emotionally distant, arguing the album's polish occasionally softens the immediacy that made earlier songs bite. Yet most reviewers celebrate Ricochet as a convincing step forward in maturity and craft, a textured, occasionally cathartic collection where the best tracks - especially “Tractor Beam”, “Dead End” and “My Maker” - make a persuasive case that Snail Mail's evolution is worth hearing. Below, detailed reviews map how those highlights and missteps shape the record's place in Jordan's catalogue.
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
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What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 12 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
On Snail Mail's Ricochet, Sam Rosenberg zeroes in on the record's best tracks as proof of Lindsey Jordan's emotional precision, citing “Dead End” and “Tractor Beam” as standout moments. He writes with intimate specificity about the album's pull — the way “Dead End” rings with wakeful regret and “Tractor Beam” likens uncertainty to UFO light — and that close attention makes these the best songs on Ricochet. The review retains a warm, elegiac tone throughout, arguing that Jordan's lyrical clarity and now-steadier vocals elevate the best tracks into quietly stunning syntheses of past and present. Overall, Rosenberg frames the album's strongest moments as proofs that growing apart can paradoxically bring you closer to yourself, which is why listeners hunting for the best tracks on Ricochet should start with “Dead End” and “Tractor Beam”.
Key Points
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The best song is "Dead End" because it serves as the radiant lead single and emotional touchstone of the album.
Themes
Critic's Take
In his measured, admiring tone Tobias Furlong frames Snail Mail's Ricochet as a stirring reintroduction, praising how “Tractor Beam” opens with a surge of urgency and inventive guitar-work, and singling out “My Maker” as the record's anchoring single. He writes with affectionate authority, noting that “My Maker” generates the biggest sense of what has been missing from Jordan's output and calling the album a raw portrayal of artistic ego, alienation, and failure. The narrative is concise and celebratory, pointing listeners searching for the best songs on Ricochet toward “Tractor Beam” and “My Maker” as the album's clearest high points.
Key Points
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The best song is "My Maker" because the reviewer calls it the lyrical jumping off point and anchor of the album.
Themes
Critic's Take
Snail Mail's Ricochet feels like a coming-of-age in sound and thought, where highlights such as “Tractor Beam” and “Dead End” show Lindsey Jordan moving from private ache to broad-eyed reflection. The reviewer's voice delights in the record's polished orchestration and restrained power, praising “My Maker” for its haunting, hazy production and calling the title track a spiralling moment that connects the album's dots. This is a record of clarity and acceptance, so queries about the best songs on Ricochet point naturally to the shimmering opener and the converging midpoint that make the album feel like a cohesive journey.
Key Points
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The best song is the shimmering opener "Tractor Beam" because it combines high production, strings, and anthemic hooks.
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The album's core strengths are restrained orchestration and lyrical maturity that shift Jordan from private ache to broader existential clarity.
Themes
Critic's Take
Snail Mail's Ricochet feels like a deliberate broadening of Lindsey Jordan's palette, with bright moments such as “Tractor Beam” and the alt-rock charge of “Hell” standing out as the best tracks on Ricochet. The record leans into shoegaze and dream-pop textures while keeping Jordan's lyrical introspection front and centre, so the best songs on the album are those that marry that atmosphere to muscular arrangements. “Tractor Beam” opens with jangly guitars and power-pop momentum that makes it feel like a clear highlight, while “Hell” supplies the alt-rock drive that punctuates the record's breadth. Overall, Ricochet's best tracks reward repeat listens by balancing influence and invention in Jordan's most assured work to date.
Key Points
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The best song, "Tractor Beam", is powerful for its jangly guitars and pop momentum that open the album convincingly.
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Ricochet's core strengths are its expanded sonic palette and lyrical introspection, blending shoegaze textures with clear songcraft.
Themes
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Critic's Take
Snail Mail's Ricochet finds Lindsey Jordan sharpening her craft with patience and care, and the reviewer's voice rewards the album's fussed-over songwriting rather than instant gratification. He singles out “Hell” as the standout for its grit, while praising “Butterfly” and the closing “Reverie” for their muscular second-half payoff and gorgeous chord work. The tone is admiring but measured, noting some repetitiveness early on yet arguing the record ultimately earns its moments. Searchers asking for the best songs on Ricochet will find the review pointing them to “Hell”, “Butterfly” and “Reverie” as the tracks that most reward repeated listens.
Key Points
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The reviewer calls "Hell" the standout for its grit and impact.
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The album's core strengths are careful songwriting, broadened vocal range, and 90s-influenced arrangements with string flourishes.
Themes
Critic's Take
Snail Mail returns on Ricochet with a sound that has broadened into lusher strings and shoegaze-like electronics, and the best songs - notably “Tractor Beam” and “My Maker” - show Lindsey Jordan shifting from wounded detail to existential reach. The record lives in a contemplative midtempo register where melodies blur but a few anchors, like the churning “Dead End” and the uplifting closer “Reverie”, give weight and resolution. This is an album of grown-up concerns, textured production, and songs that linger rather than strike immediately, making the best tracks on Ricochet the ones that pair lyrical reach with those denser arrangements.
Key Points
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The best song is "Tractor Beam" because its jangly, shimmery textures and processed vocals mark a striking expansion of Snail Mail's sound.
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The album's core strengths are lush arrangements and mature, existential songwriting that give weight to midtempo, contemplative tracks.
Themes
Critic's Take
Snail Mail's Ricochet often finds its best tracks in moments where lyricism meets atmosphere, and the review privileges “Agony Freak”, “Hell” and “Cruise” as standout moments. The record's hazy romantic glow - the opener “Tractor Beam” - gives way to the more urgent tension of the title track, where darting strings and a drowning crescendo underline restless anxieties. There is tenderness in Lindsey Jordan's direct confessions, especially on “Hell” and “My Maker”, where orchestral touches complement fiery emotion. Overall the best songs on Ricochet are those that balance blunt colloquialisms with the album's newfound grunge-infused edge.
Key Points
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Agony Freak is the best song because its meandering riffs and push-and-pull structure most vividly embody the album's emotional tension.
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The album's core strength is balancing intimate, direct lyricism with richer, shoegaze and orchestral textures.