Josaleigh Pollett – Radio Player

Salt Lake City’s Josaleigh Pollett reunites with longtime collaborator Jordan Watko for “Radio Player”, their first single since 2023’s “In The Garden, By The Weeds”. After Watko relocated to Japan, the duo maintained their partnership by sending recordings back and forth across continents—Pollett’s home setup in Utah and Watko’s flat in Tokyo.

The track opens with cryptic, atmospheric production, then builds into cascading synth arpeggios. Despite being largely electronic, “Radio Player” maintains its vitality through a quiet acoustic detour and a sweeping finale that pulls you into glittering synth-pop melodies. Pollett’s vocals cut through the crescendoing mix with passion and urgency.

Inspired by watching “Poltergeist” too young, Pollett weaves childhood fears with themes of ageing and fading memory. “The house isn’t there any more, and I don’t know if it ever was,” they sing. “Memory is a fickle thing when you cope with the damage like us.” The lyrics treat memory like a flickering screen, unstable and potentially unreliable.

Nashville’s Andrew Goldring contributed to production, mixing, and instrumentation, joining Pollett’s live band at Kilby Block Party earlier this year. The song gained strength in live settings, and the studio version captures that energy without losing Watko’s electronic fluency. Recording across time zones brought anxiety and confusion to the process, but Pollett sees that chaos as part of what drives the new music.

Pollett’s vocals have shifted since their last album—clearer, more prominent, laid precisely over the swirling production. The song builds verse by verse, breaking into sparseness with acoustic guitar before hitting its emotional peak. “But I put my back into it, and a heart inside is gleaming,” Pollett sings near the end, their voice carrying each syllable rhythmically through to the finish. Distance didn’t stop this collaboration; it might have strengthened it.