Bethany Cosentino

Songwriters on Process

ED note: I mispronounced Cosentino’s name in the podcast intro: the first “o” should be long (as in snow), but I used a short “o” (as in top). I’m sorry Bethany!
If you have plans to meet Bethany Cosentino and she’s late, look outside. There’s a good chance she’s there writing. Cosentino loves to write in her car—when it’s not moving, of course. She gets great ideas just sitting in it. “I’ll be late to things because I’ve been sitting in my car for too long. I’ll get there early or on time and then just sit there,” she told me on this episode of the podcast.

This is my third time interviewing Cosentino (the others were 2010 and 2015). Each has been so enjoyable because her answers were always different and always so expansive. There’s a reason for that: each album embraces a different process. Cosentino wrote one in front of a TV on mute and another in front of a big window. She wrote a good chunk of her debut solo album Natural Disaster on the floor.