New Music: Josaleigh Pollett – Radio PlayerNew Music: Josaleigh Pollett – Radio Player

If you’re a regular listener to KEXP like myself, you’ll have heard the slow-burning indie of Radio Player more than once already.

If boygenius are ever looking for a fourth member, then Salt Lake City musician Josaleigh Pollett will easily fit the bill. It’s not that Radio Player, which sees Pollett team up with long-term collaborator Jordan Watko, should be compared to the power trio, mainly as it features on If I Let It Quiet, which is actually Pollett’s fourth album.

Her work runs down similar pathways and memories to boygenius and their solo works, equally delving into the byways of Americana, indie, and folk. Radio Player, though, has greater maturity to it: possibly because she is seasoned in documenting her life through music.     

I wouldn’t regard Radio Player and If I Let It Quiet as music for sharing. The reception the album has got on her recent tour, along with the masses of radio play both have received, shows that many feel otherwise. I won’t argue with that, really.

It’s not music to be kept secret, far from it. But it’s best enjoyed alone in the small hours or gifted to those you love as if it were a rare jewel. Because, in essence – that is what the album is: a precious diamond with some rounded edges, and a way to make your own memories on your own or with those close to you.    

“Radio Player is a song about memory and fear, loosely based on seeing the movie Poltergeist at too young an age,” reveals Pollett.

“It is a journey through the hallways of childhood that we leave a light on within. A pink light flickers on and beckons the listener through, releasing them changed and covered in ectoplasm five minutes later.

Josaleigh Pollett’s If I Let It Quiet was released on the 24th of July in digital and 45 RPM double vinyl formats via Lavender Vinyl and Audio Antihero. You can pick up the album on Bandcamp and hear it on Spotify: head to Pollett’s TikTok, Blue Sky, or Instagram socials for more listening options and artist updates.

Header image by P.J. Guinto