All it takes is 3 chords and a dream!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Review: Lindsay Katt - Picking Out Boxes


Lindsay Katt - Picking Out Boxes
2009, Lindsay Catalanello


Lindsay Katt is a New York City based singer/songwriter with a reputation for honest and intelligent lyrics and an ability to highlight beauty in the mundane. Her debut CD, Picking Out Boxes, is a stark and ultimately welcome reminder that truth and beauty can coexist in art and music.
Lindsay Katt opens with My Happy, a jaunty pop/rock tune with orchestration that is introspective and energetic and ultimately listenable. The chorus is particularly memorable and Katt gets particularly creative on the bridge. Katt makes the case for pop realism while staying clearly in a very commercial sound. Out & About is about love and taking leaps of faith. The universal theme of taking risks for gain is portrayed perfectly in a highly intelligent pop song with distinct commercial punch. Wretched Unbelievers is a catchy tune that sounds a bit like Sarah McLachlan with instrumentation similar to what McLachlan used on her earlier albums and the same sort of ethereal vocal structure.

Fairly is a wonderfully lilting pop tune that you won't be able to get out of your head, showing off Katt's voice to great effect. Heart Place finds Katt sounding a great deal like Feist in what may be the most commercial sounding track on the disc. The interesting thing about Katt's music is that her commercialism seems to be almost by accident. The songs on Picking Out Boxes are incredibly intelligent lyrically and almost aesthetically melodic. The energy that Katt injects both in the music and through her voice turns even the most mundane musical line into gold. Add into this what be one of the more sultry and sweet voices in pop music and you border on not just a performance but a musical experience.

Andie Ann is presented in a vibrant and dark musical arrangement with full orchestration that is as beautiful as it is unsettling. The layered vocals and orchestra work together to create a song that soars in the shadowy dark chords the song is written in. Pretty In A Paper Bag opens as a plaintive piano tune and turns into a swaying pop song that eschews the term love while defining it. This may be the best writing on the album and deserves to be heard far and wide. Two Little Birds opens out into a straight up pop/rock song that is perfect for pop radio. The imagery here is distinct and unusual and represents the unsettled nature of ambiguous relationships perfectly. The album closes out with Promises and Yellow Tail, but highly introspective and worth checking out.

Lindsay Katt has something special going on. Her raw talent and the sporadic cultural isolation growing up in the mountains of Montana have conspired to create a distinctive and original voice, both literally and figuratively. Picking Out Boxes is powerful and lovely debut from an artist we hope we'll be hearing much more from in the future. Lindsay Katt is the real deal.

Rating: 4.5 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Lindsay Kat at www.myspace.com/lindsaykatt or http://www.lindsaykatt.com/. You can purchase a copy of Picking Out Boxes at www.cdbaby.com/cd/lindsaykatt, or you can download a copy from iTunes.

5 comments:

Randy said...

Could not have said it better. Lindsay is one of my favorite artists.

Kristin Roth said...

Lindsay's music is Amazing. I give her 5 stars.

Seth said...

My favorite album this year.

Anonymous said...

We are very proud of our local girl...glad to see her getting the credit she so deserves! The Beech Family

Dave Schipper said...

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