“Salt”
As the daughter of Ogden-based musician/educator William Pollett, Josaleigh Pollett grew up nestled in the bosom of the local music scene. She learned firsthand how to play by following her father from music event to songwriting class from a very early age.
The fruits of this unconventional upbringing shine through on her first CD, “Salt,” recorded in Ogden with her father’s help and studio. Warm jazz-tinged folk pop is the tangy flavor “Salt” leaves on the tongue.
Pollett, 20, shows an agility and ability with poetry beyond her years. She composed 11 of the 12 songs included on the CD. She also plays all of the instrumentation, save for a bass guitar turn by her father on one tune.
The music is mostly folk in style, although Pollett sings with a jazzier and wiser flavor than most youthful chanteuses.
Several songs stand out from the strong pack. “Hopeless” is a short song that comes off almost like a Billie Holiday blues. “Hayday,” a gentle song about a faraway love, is downright haunting, staying with you long after a listen. “Ain’t We Swell” is another sweet and romantic cut.
“Seventeen” may be the best thing on the record, with a viewpoint on a lost love far beyond its years: “You’ve got a crooked smile and a book on charisma, but that ain’t gonna bring me home/ You know I tried to find it, but there ain’t no love in ya, because I have to do this on my own/ Because I’m not the one that you thought I’d be/ I broke your heart and kept the pieces closer to me/ That night you tried to kill yourself and set me free/ I guess you thought that I would stay seventeen ...”
It’s fun and rare to get a glimpse of a true artist at the beginning of a career. Josaleigh Pollett has the potential to take her music a long way. Keep your ears open and your eye out for performances by this talented young woman.
