Interview: Catie Lausten
Photo by @isopod_spencer
Virginia native turned Brooklyn based singer-songwriter Catie Lausten wraps her angelic sonic tendrils around your eardrums in her debut album 'All Roads Lead to Parking Lots'. Her newest tracks are laced with lived experience and layered symbolism, haunted by a quiet ache that feels both reticent and universal. Catie's music feels like hanging stockings on a clothesline beneath the lazy golden sun, and the listening experience - 'Like being punched by a cloud, the sound is both powerful and delicate.'
What inspires your music?
Love in all forms. It can be the source of pain, or it can be joyous to strangers or people familiar. I'm a cancer, so I relate all things back to love.
Who are some of your influences?
Angel Olsen, Mitski, Mirah, Cleo Sol
Photo by @luxxienne
What are some of your favorite memories from your career?
My first tour and first time playing a show in NYC, maybe 4-5 years ago, brought me some of my favorite people just by chance. Also, not rlly a memory, but being an independent artist can feel treacherous sometimes and it’s easy to forget the magic or why you started. When I see a rlly good show/watch someone else perform and become inspired again it’s my favorite feeling (or one of them). I love watching a band and having the itching feeling to run back home to my guitar.
Which of your projects do you love the most?
My most recent release/my debut album, ‘All Roads Lead to Parking Lots’. I’ve put a lot of music out since I got started, but this feels like the most me, kind of an embodiment of me from the past 2 years. I produced the album and worked with a lot of really amazing friends in Richmond, VA and NY.
Who are some of the collaborators who helped you create your favorite works?
Cole Roberts engineered like 90% of the album and mixed the entire project. Check out his project @overunderdog!
My VA band: Spencer Berry on bass for the whole album and some guitar on a few tracks. Dane Ludwig on the kit for the entire album. Both Dane and Spencer recorded their parts of Open Wide and Far From Here at their respective homes. I think Dane even recorded his drums to tape. Since I moved from VA to Brooklyn right at the tail end of making the album.
Henry Plotnick added piano/keys to Far From Here, Open Wide, and Swallow Me Holy.
Victor McManus added pedal steel to Come Back to VA and Open Wide.
Neal Perrine arranged the strings on Big Plans and Love You Badly.
Many other people added sounds, pieces, and parts to this album, and I am incredibly grateful to every person who touched the project.
What are you most excited to bring to your fans next?
I’m playing the Iron Blossom Festival in Richmond, VA, on September 20th. It’s an amazing lineup, and Richmond is my favorite place.
What are your goals for this upcoming year?
Write more music, play 1 million shows, get better, Tour more, get paid.
I have already started my next project, so I can’t wait to record more music and see how the
songs reveal themselves.
How can your fans and our readers best support you right now?
Stream my new album ‘All Roads Lead To Parking Lots’ subscribe to my YouTube, follow my Instagram for shows/ new music @smallsoftanimal and if your feeling especially jazzed up buy my album on bandcamp. (Working on new merch)
Photo by Andrew Krysinski