LET'S TALK. Locally band Sweater People to release their first full-length album on March 8. (Photos by Elijah Vanderpoel)

Eau Claire-based group Sweater People crafts music that comforts, and stands out – just like a good sweater should. The group’s first EP, Sweater Music Vol. 1, which was released last year, encapsulated those feelings through sound. Now, the trio is exploring its melancholic side by releasing its first full-length album, CODA Talk, on March 8.

Sweater People – made up of Hans Fuerst (keys), Will DeBlaey (bass), and North Skager (drums) – has been making unique instrumental songs heavily influenced by jazz since their first single released in 2021. After performing live several places locally – namely the Sounds Like Summer Concert Series, the 2023 Downtown Eau Claire Fall Festival, Clearwater Jazz & Art Festival, the E.C. Jazz Crawl, and more – the group is finally releasing a full-length album.

“Our EP felt like a compilation of short stories, where this album feels like a good novel,” Fuerst said.

Cover photo by Elijah Vanderpoel and design by Hans Fuerst.

The album’s name, CODA Talk, comes from Fuerst’s experience growing up as a CODA – Child of Deaf Adults. After writing a song about his experience meeting with other CODAs where he felt as though he had returned to “normal life” after feeling very lost, the group decided that the emotions expressed in the song were similar to the theme of the others in the album. With 13 songs on the album, the group explores deeper themes of feeling lost, depressed, and finding acceptance, though all songs are subject to interpretation given their instrumental nature.

“We had a vision and this thematic cohesion and all these similar themes, but if other people derive what they want from it, I think that that’s cool too,” Skager said.

The first song on the album, “Odd Chemicals,” was created in collaboration with Idyllic Reeds, a quintet from Eau Claire. Sweater People released the music video for “Odd Chemicals” on Feb. 23 on their YouTube. 

North Skager (left), Hans Fuerst (middle), and Will DeBlaey (right).

The album was created over a two-year period, with Sweater People taking several weekends to record the music at the Aviary Studio in Menomonie and then at Journeyman Recording Studio, run by Gabe Larson of Waldemar. After about 200 hours of studio time together, the music was engineered primarily by DeBlaey himself.

“We kind of just lock ourselves in a room (when recording),” DeBlaey said. “Throughout the process, we really ended up engineering it together and producing it together and making all those creative decisions … we kind of did it all in-house. I think that gave us a really cool opportunity to find our voice and use the studio as an instrument.”

The album is being released through Sun Goose Records, a label based out of Oshkosh. To celebrate the release of CODA Talk, Sweater People will be performing at The Plus on March 8, opened by local band Summit Blue. The album will be available to stream on all platforms.

Learn more about Sweater People and stream their music at sweaterpeople.org.