By Sean Maldjian, Contributor

Meet Andrew Cosentino

Ambient Americana generator and skate video enthusiast Andrew Cosentino is one heck of a guy. His latest release ‘Pepsi Will Bring Back Your Ancestors’ is a tranquil collection bound to send your mind into beautiful places. A New York-based act, his ability to seamlessly integrate acoustic and electronic music makes for innovative and stunning compositions. In our latest interview, we chat with Andrew about neighborhoods, parks, and instruments.

“The Observatory” a fill in the blank with Andrew Cosentino

Our class went on a MANDATORY field trip to an observatory. It was located on top of an ALASKA, and it looked like a giant COBBLER with a slit down its CROW. We went inside and looked through a SEWING MACHINE and were able to see RACE CARS in the sky that were millions of SHIPPING CONTAINERS away. The men and women who CONGREGATE in the observatory are called SOCKS, and they are always watching for comets, eclipses, and shooting SWEDES. An eclipse occurs when THE SUN comes between the earth and the JUMP ROPE and everything gets SLIMY. Next week, we plan to SPLIT the Museum of Modern SCAFFOLDING.

Would you rather…

only eat burritos or pizza for the rest of your life?

Have to go with burritos. It’s the clear choice nutritionally, but even independent of that, it comes with a lot more variety, you can take it apart and eat only certain ingredients etc. But maybe that misses the spirit of the question...

Some questions with Andrew Cosentino

What was the direction or inspiration for the cover art 2021 release “Pepsi Will Bring Back Your Ancestors” by Ellen Yang? 

Over the past year or so I’ve had a lot of fun reading/collecting small, independent comics, and I asked Ellen (my girlfriend) if she could create a four-panel comic for the cover. The only stipulation was that it include cartoony violence, which I think she delivered on perfectly. 

What instruments were essential in finding your voice as a musician?

Guitar and Piano. I’ve been playing both for most of my life (though piano for longer) and both serve different purposes for me. I’m admittedly better/more comfortable on guitar, but I can do things on a piano, like play show tunes, that I just can’t do in the same way on a guitar, I’m no Bill Frissell. Though if anyone has any good guitar arrangements of songs from A Chorus Line, please get in touch!

Where do you like to take people through your compositions?

Nowhere in particular, that’s really up to the listener. I certainly have lots of personal things attached to each song, like sounds sampled from meaningful sources or specific things I was dwelling on during the writing/recording process, but on this EP I was trying to tell the listener less how to feel, and leave things more open-ended.  

What is your favorite park in New York City?

Do the west fourth street basketball courts count? If so, there, if not, Winston Churchill square, that teeny one, off Bleeker right across the street.

Where is your favorite venue to catch a show in NY? Why? 

Terraza 7, in Jackson Heights. It’s a 15-minute walk from me and I’ve seen more amazing jazz and folk music there than anywhere. And they’re still going, people are still playing sets outside with fingerless gloves on. I don’t know how they do it but it’s an inspiration.

What is the songwriting process like for you? Is it structured or more organic?

My approach at least for this EP was pretty structured. I wrote all the songs (chord structure and melody) on guitar first, before transcribing for piano and working out ideas for the rest of the arrangement there. I don’t mean every part is written out before recording, far from it, but for synth/keyboard type parts, it’s very helpful to see the music in front of you while working. That said, the banjo parts are largely improvised, and just fooling around with the guitar while watching TV or listening to a podcast is often when I’ll come up with basic harmony or melody ideas.

What is your dream neighborhood to live in, and why?

I already live there, Elmhurst/Jackson Heights! But if I had to move and could go anywhere in the city, it would be one of the apartments in the Charlotte Bronte Villa in the Bronx, this amazing small complex of buildings on a cliff in Riverdale overlooking the Hudson. I’ve just never seen anywhere else in the city that looks like it.

Any final comments? (This is your electronic soapbox for one last answer.)

I recommend everyone watch more skateboarding videos.