“When I started going to rock & roll camp once a summer, I definitely always felt like there was a lot to be proven of being like a girl, a small girl,” says Snail Mail’s Lindsey Jordan. “My whole brain was just this ‘Be better than the boys, I have to in order to be able to even just exist’ thing, and that took some of the enjoyment out of it. But now I do have a bloodlust for getting better, and I don’t know if I would have that if it weren’t for having so much of an inferiority complex for so long.” In episode 136, Jordan delves further into how the perfectionism she developed early on, as a preciously talented kid guitarist at rock camp, has been both a blessing and a curse — on the one hand it has inspired her to constantly strive to improve, on the other it has contributed to intense anxiety that she still battles. We discuss the theme of anxiety and obsession in her life, and the role those things played in the excellent new Snail Mail album, Ricochet. Don’t worry, we also get into a lot of lighter fare, talking about the artists she obsessed over as a kid during one of indie music’s heydays, when she poured over Tumblr to discover bands like Beach House and Warpaint and Purity Ring and St. Vincent and Lana Del Rey. Lindsay also shares some details about the first big Snail Mail tour for Ricochet, and some new things she and the band are trying for these shows. Get tickets and details here.

“I had never played a concert until I got a record deal with Sub Pop and they were like, ‘Well, you should consider going on tour,’" says Iron & Wine's Sam Beam. "I was like, ‘Oh shit.’ It’s a very atypical story, and it also made me suffer from a lot of imposter syndrome for a long time. I felt like I wasn’t supposed to be there, that I had fooled someone along the way and they were gonna find out and the gig was gonna be up.” Some 24 years later, the gig is nowhere near up for Beam, who’s been releasing beautiful music as Iron & Wine ever since his 2002 Sub Pop Records debut, The Creek Drank the Cradle, and his latest, his 8th studio album Hen’s Teeth is another wonderful collection of music. It came out in late February and we talk about the making of the album in episode 135, and we also delve into his earlier creative history, how he began in visual arts (drawing and filmmaking) before getting his first four-track, and the inspiration he got from artists including Sebadoh, Cowboy Junkies, R.E.M., Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, among others. We also discuss a future project he’s excited to develop — a Broadway musical! You can hear more about that near the end of the interview. Iron & Wine will be playing shows in Hawaii later this month and then embarking on a full-scale North American tour in late April. Get tickets and further info here.

“It is important to have faith when you’re making something,” says Florence Shaw, frontwoman for U.K. post-punk band Dry Cleaning, regarding the hyper-specificity of her lyrics and how they can still feel very relatable, even when she’s referencing something unfamiliar. (This, by the way, is one of my favorite things about Dry Cleaning’s music.) “You don’t have to dumb everything down and you don’t have to explain absolutely everything to the audience,” she continues. “I do feel like people will pick things up. I feel like people get it still, and that’s a satisfying thing. You have to believe in the perceptiveness of the audience.” As you’ll hear episode 134 of the LSQ podcast, the band — Flo, guitarist Tom Dowse, drummer Nick Buxton and bassist Lewis Maynard — have more to say about the idea of faith in the audience and also faith in each each other as bandmates. We also talk more about Secret Love, their brilliant third LP (and I think their best to-date), and we zoom out to discuss their creative histories individually and how they came together as Dry Cleaning. Get tickets for their upcoming tour here.