Local woman releases debut album

Heather Hasty

Valley Press

One local of Plains has found her niche in New York City. Lindsay Catalanello, daughter of Mark Catalanello and Susan and Don Damschen, is soon to be releasing her debut album ‘Picking out Boxes’.

Catalanello will be releasing the album under the name Lindsay Katt and has been working on it for several years. Catalanello grew up in Plains since 1993.

"She started doing a lot of her singing in church and loved it," Susan Damschen said about her daughter.

Catalanello is not new to the spotlight though, at the age of 8 she performed with the Sanders County Community Theatre playing Bridgett in the ‘Sound of Music.’ At the age of 12 she also played Alice in ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ After being home schooled most of her life Catalanello decided to do her senior project as a production. She did the fundraising, produced, choreographed, directed and most everything else for her production of ‘Annie.’

According to Damschen her daughter was mostly self-taught at home, despite a few piano lessons. Catalanello decided that she wanted to take advanced art and advanced choir in high school so began to go to public school part time.

"She was always like ‘I need to perform, I need to do this," Damschen said. "Her sister, Rhiannan is 16 months older than her and they were always performing as kids."

Damschen said that they always had a musical background at home.

"We always took them to concerts and plays," Damschen said, "We took them to James Taylor and Sting. We took them to anything we could. Music was always definitely a part of our house."

Catalanello agrees with her mother.

"It’s funny, we grew up in a very musical household," Catalanello said, "My earliest memory is of my dad playing guitar, I think he kind of started it out for me."

Catalanello added that she remembers playing on stage with her sister and father at an old coffee shop in Plains as a child, at an open mic night.

Catalanello said that deep down she always knew that music was what she wanted to do in her life.

"There was a few years I got a little distracted, I studied psychology for a little while," Catalanello said, "But nothing really lit me heart on fire so I was writing secretly and trying to secretly record and I finally went and played some of it for my mom and she told me that I should do this and I knew it. Once I came to terms with it it was really easy, I just embraced the fact that I might be a poor starving artist!"

What inspires Catalanello’s writing and music includes the last 23 years, she said and the last couple decades of music.

"Each song is kind of like a snapshot of different things," Catalanello said, "I’m inspired everyday by all different music, there is so many things to learn from and so many different ways to grow."

Catalanello’s catchy upbeat lyrics and flowing background music have something to say though.

"[The album] is just about kind of growing up I guess," Catalanello said, "It’s about making those mistakes through life."

She added that she has been looking forward to the release of this album for several years; she has been working on it for some time now. It took close to two years for her to go through the entire process.

"I’m just really excited," Catalanello, said, " It’s such a wonderful feeling to be able to share this with people and have something to hold in your hands."

As for what the future holds Catalanello said she doesn’t really know. She would like to do a college tour after the album is released but she added that a lot could change in a few months.

"I take life in little chunks," Catalanello said, "It’s just better to go with the flow of things. I do definitely want to work in music but I don’t know what that means!"

She did say that it was fun being in the studio but that she is excited to get back out there and do what she loves most, which is perform and play in front of people.

One of the main experiences in her life she attributes her success to is growing up in Plains.

"It’s nice to be an example," Catalanello said, "I had such a wonderful childhood in Plains. I feel that that was such an advantage, to have that foundation is such a huge gift. I feel like I am a better adult because of it."

Her album will be released in Plains on Feb. 4 and is currently available on the Internet. She will be hosting a release party The Living Room in New York City on Feb. 19.