The homosexual rite of cruising is a dangerous game. Although accompanied by many a physical threat, could it be the emotional side that poses the greatest risk of all? ‘So Close‘ the new single from U.S. actor, singer/songwriter, Joey Pollari, examines the psychological side of hooking up with strangers…and past loves.

Originally hailing from the mid-west, multi-insturmentalist Pollari, is interested in taking Americana, the most sacred of genres, and telling stories from a radically queer POV. ‘So Close‘, from upcoming album, I’ll Be Romance, beautifully balances the experimentalism of John Grant with the soaring chorus of The Killers circa Sam’s Town. Opening with the line, ‘Your name was the lover’s in the book I read and I am thinking of you again’, it is clear we are headed for a torturous tragedy and we are a sucker for heartbreak.

Accompanying the new single is a gorgeously atmospheric and extremely hot video, directed by Joey himself, of which he has to say, ‘I directed and conceived this video as the feel-bad cruising event of the year — when you’re cruising to want something new, but you just want what you lost. Because if cruising anonymity recalls your past, you’re up shit’s creek. And I think that’s a good place to start for this record — up shit’s creek in memory, surrounded by possibility, frozen by what you can’t get beyond yet.”

I’ll Be Romance was written in the midst of a formative relationship with an ex-boyfriend; the couple regularly spent time in the bohemia-steeped surroundings of Laurel Canyon, a short drive from Pollari’s LA home. While he worked with Theo Karon (Mavis Staples, Angel Olsen) on the production.

‘So Close‘ is out now. The album, I’ll Be Romance, follows on 5th April. 
Photo: Jacob Bixenman