by Kevin Sparrow
Traveling from the cold reaches of Ann Arbor to the (only just) more temperate New York City, Gina Pensiero has taken her love of music from the Midwest to the East Coast. Pensiero has spent the last eight years as a working musician in hometown bands The Dumb and Ugly Club and solo project Umberto to helping found record label i am janet! Currently, Pensiero is singer-songwriter for Palmyra (their recently release full-length, Mis-en-Scene, can be bought here) and approximately a year ago, she started her blog One Sweet Song with an ear tuned to spreading good music to more people. Cul de sac Magazine talked with the feisty chanteuse about blogging, music and making a mixtape for the masses.
CM: How did One Sweet Song first come to be? Had you been planning it out for a while or just dive in?
GP: I hadn’t really been planning to do the blog. The idea crossed my mind and I thought it could be a nice format for a music blog, especially since I was finding a lot of the music blogs I was reading to be overwhelming. I think more and more that the internet, and culture as a whole, is starting to be about short content. The world has been going this way for a while, as cinematic TV series become as popular or more popular than feature films, icons replace words and Twitter replaces the blog. Songs are the perfect self-contained form of short content, which is part of the reason why the mixtape idea is so successful. Here’s this thing that’s short, small, standalone and easy to consume in a sitting, but can still trigger all this emotional response, critical thought and personal connection. It’s manageable, but meaningful. I thought about this for a few days, and then just ran with it.
CM: As a musician, do you see it as your responsibility to promote good music?
GP: As a musician and a music lover, I think it would be blasphemy to put bad music out into the world, especially when so much exceptional music already exists, not to mention the fact that there is so much excellent music being made daily that it’s impossible to keep up with.
CM: You write very topical or pertinent posts to accompany the songs you choose. I’m thinking of Nina Simone on Inauguration Day in particular. Do you look to have a social comment with the songs you choose?
GP: Honestly, I don’t actively seek one out, but if one naturally arises, I don’t shy away. I’ve also gotten a bit theme-y on occasion (for example, I didn’t have a problem talking about Michigan’s strange economic problems or the state of the auto industry when I did my Michigan Week). Those can often afford a nice opportunity for social comment.
GP: I don’t seek to leave out personal details, but I do recognize that there is a personal line on the blog that I don’t wish to cross. I think the issue is two-fold: The first part of it is that we live in a totally tell-all over-sharing world at present. Reality TV, gossip blogs, YouTube, Facebook; these have become media institutions which actually seem to encourage blurting out your most personal secrets to whoever might be around to listen, in lieu of some kind of decorum. I don’t love this and would rather not participate. The second part is that when you write about your personal life at length, you expose the people close to you to whoever might be reading. I don’t think that’s fair and I don’t think it’s what most people sign up for. That said, if it’s small and tasteful, I don’t have a problem with it.
CM: Have any of the bands or musicians you have blogged about contacted you?
GP: Not really. Some of the smaller bands I’ve written about in the Local Music session have gotten in touch, but these people are all my friends, so I’m not sure if it counts.
CM: Can you tell us a little about Local Music Fridays, and how you select songs for that?
GP: I’ve been playing shows and recording music with various bands and projects for a solid 8 years now and I’ve met tons of talented people along the way. Local Music Friday bands are usually just friends and acquaintances whose work I enjoy and admire. These are bands and songwriters that I think people should be listening to, not just because I have such deep affinity for them as people, but also because they are under-the-radar and mindblowingly talented.
CM: You are nominated for a Bloggie Award for Best Music Weblog, and you are the only one of the five nominees that started this past year. How excited are you? Are you going to attend the awards show at the SXSW Festival?
GP: Totally excited! Although I’m almost positive I won’t win. I’m undoubtedly the underdog when compared to Alex Ross and Stereogum. As for SXSW, I wish I could go, but I have a lot of other things going on that will keep me from it, namely, my band Palmyra, which is currently recording and touring in April. Oh, and of course there’s also my day job…bummer.
CM: What are your plans for the future of One Sweet Song?
GP: I hope I can continue it indefinitely. There’s also another idea that’s also floating around in my head, but I’m not sure I want to say it in just yet. Like my somewhat veiled references to personal life in my posts, I’d like to keep a few things under wraps, at least for time-being.
