Singer-songwriter Snail Mail has opened up about her road to recovery following a vocal cord surgery that forced the delay of tour dates in the US, UK and Europe.

Speaking to Carmel Holt on a recent episode of the Sheroes Mixtape Memoir podcast, the singer – real name Lindsey Jordan – shared that she was “silent for the entire month” following the surgery in December, an experience that she said “was really hard”.

“There were a lot of situations where I found myself just totally helpless. You know, you don’t really think about how much you need your voice,” she said. Jordan explained that on one occasion, she found herself locked out of her apartment and wasn’t able to call her apartment supervisor, and was called “rude” by Uber drivers trying to make conversation.

Now, Jordan is attending “speech therapy weekly and these surgeon follow-ups”, and is in the process of “reteaching” herself to talk, “with speech therapy and discipline and exercise – correct speaking techniques”.

While she hasn’t begun working up to singing just yet, Jordan revealed that she was cleared to sing during her recent second follow-up with her surgeon.

She also added that “everything is looking good and everything will be on time with the tour, which is cool! I’ll be honest, I was not expecting that”.

Snail Mail’s tour is currently set to kick off in the US on March 23 in Boise, Idaho, and will wrap on May 8 in Nashville before she tours the UK and Europe in June and July. More information can be found here.

• READ MORE: Snail Mail: “It’s awesome seeing lots of women and queer people in music”

Her original set of US and UK tour dates were set to begin in November, but the singer called off the tour shortly before it began after having “found massive polyps in my vocal cords that need to be operated on to prevent permanent damage to my voice”.

Last year, Snail Mail released her sophomore album, ‘Valentine’. In a five-star review, NME hailed ‘Valentine’ as being “expertly curated” while noting that every song “feels like a fully-realised gem”. The record landed at Number 24 on NME‘s 50 Best Albums Of 2021 list.

Yesterday, Snail Mail released a new demo of her ‘Valentine’ title track to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The demo, titled ’Adore You’, takes on a lo-fi feel, compared to the final  anthemic version of the song that was released.