Hazelcreak

Hazelcreak, in its namesake, was born out of the childhood home of singer-songwriter Benjamin Richter. In many ways, it has continued to reflect the idea of place - that songs are contained within the time and space of not only where they were crafted and written, but where they are listened to and lived with.

Recorded during the pandemic and released independently in October of 2021 comes Gopher State, the band’s debut studio record. Described as “the cross-product of a funeral song and a road trip jam” - the record carries both cathartic peaks and lulling somber electronic blips and bloops all blanketed in the rare nostalgia of a broken relationship. Gopher State remains grounded in the changing seasons of its namesake, harkening to the first snow of a Minnesota autumn in the emotional gut-punch of single “Nysnø” and with “Father Hennepin” and “Temperance” sharing their titles (and landscapes) with State Parks of the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

While Hazelcreak began as a collaboration between Richter and multi-instrumentalist and producer Isaac Levy, Gopher State introduced a burgeoning class of collaborators into the fold, including Twin Cities superstars Caleb Hinz (Samia, Hippo Campus), Jeremy Ylvisaker (Bon Iver, John Prine), and JT Bates (Bonny Light Horseman, Taylor Swift). As the group swells, Richter’s personal mantra remains: “Good Folk Make Good Music.”