Sweater Weather | en

There is more than one band with this name.

(1) Sweater Weather is a musical ensemble hailing from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. With six members and an array of instruments at their disposal, these fresh-faced youths are making their own way through the indie rock territory that was marked out by the Shins, Sufjan Stevens, and others just after the turn of the millennium. Casey Trela is the primary songwriter and the voice of Sweater Weather. His acoustic guitar and soft tenor can lull you into relaxation, at which point he carries you into a psycho-strummed stomp fest just to show you that he can. Hell yell at you, melodically. This sort of thing was once a solo act, but when Casey moved from the suburban town of Matthews to the more bohemian triangle area, he assembled a band made up of former Charlotte/Matthews residents with similar musical inclinations. Curt White brought his guitar and some of his well-crafted songs along for the ride. Hell sing one at a show if youre lucky, and it will conjure up overtones of some famous Omaha folkies. Tim Phillips started as the bands melodica player, but his innate multi-instrumentalism was uncontrollable. He now adds all kinds of textures to the music with his trumpet, glockenspiel, keyboards, and percussion. Lindsay Ellerbe is responsible for the sweeping cello lines, as well as some rhythmic pizzicato. The groups sound coalesces on top of Adam Scaffernoths djembe beats. After a year, the group decided it was time to move into new musical territories, and added drummer and percussionist Bobby Sweatt. His post-rock/prog-rock influences fuse with tribal percussion to elevate the music to a new level. Over 2005 and 2006, the group has taken on a more fervent show schedule around the Chapel Hill scene. They've been grouped with the likes of Anathallo, Matt Pond PA, and Swords, and their live musical chemistry has grown nearly as strong as their friendship off the stage. Together, these six musicians create an intimate atmosphere in which the songs can really become personal.

(2) Sweater Weather was also an indie band from Chicago active from 1995 to 1997. Influenced by the melodic lilt of bands like the Sea and Cake, but also taking a page from the dynamics and polyrhythms of bands like King Crimson, they released a self-titled 7" in 1996 on Divot Records and a split 7" with Days in December on Polyvinyl Records in 1997. They also had a large amount of unreleased material, much of it available here and here.

Their line-up was:
Zac Conway - Guitar/Vocals
Kevin J. Frank - Guitar
Paul Obrecht - Bass
Ryan Rapsys - Drums


Members went on to play in Haymarket Riot (Frank); Heroic Doses, Euphone, Ambulette, and Noyes (Rapsys); and the Heard (Conway).

(3) Sweater Weather was also another project of Aaron Gerber and Liz Isenberg. This project eventually became A Weather, a band signed to Team Love Records. .