DOWN TO CHAT. Matt Hasenmueller has lengthy-yet-breezy convos with local guests on his new podcast.

The title of a new locally-produced podcast – Matt’s House – sort of implies that it takes place at a house where a guy named Matt lives. I mean, the guy’s name is Matt Hasenmueller, but there’s actually no house to speak of.

“It’s not at my house. I told someone that and they were totally heartbroken,” Hasenmueller said. “Like ‘What? I was picturing you in a bathrobe talking to someone on your couch.’ ”

We’re totally blowing the lid off of this conspiracy right now. But in truth, it’s not altogether that difficult to imagine a pretty casual setting for the kind of lengthy-yet-breezy chats on Matt’s House – even if the pod is recorded at Ivy Creatives in downtown Eau Claire.

Inspired by long-form podcasts like Pete Holmes’ You Made It Weird and Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert, Hasenmueller has dropped 10 episodes of Matt’s House this year featuring infectious one-on-one chats with interesting local people like Chef Amy Huo of Locavore Mobile Kitchen and Clear Water Comedy’s Cullen Ryan. Hasenmueller is a natural conversationalist and thoughtful interviewer, but he’s not trying to get anything out of his guests other than a nice convo.

“I like to learn about somebody’s life and what they’re doing, especially if they’re doing something I know nothing about,” he said. “A cool thing about a podcast is people don’t go on their phones; it’s an in-the-moment, complete conversation.”

Hasenmueller was the frontman of the Eau Claire-based pop band The Millenium for many years before the band played its final gig in February. He said letting that part of his life go was a difficult choice to make, but since then, for him, it’s freed up all kinds of creative logjams. As of this writing, Matt’s House is just a podcast, but this summer, Hasenmueller’s hoping to make it the groundwork for a whole host of content he wants to make. That could include TV, online video, and Serial-style narrative podcasting as well.

But for right now, Matt’s House already has a strong foot forward. Hasenmueller has a deep reverence for the format, and he gets better and better with every episode.

“I don’t see the need to make it perfect right away. It’s just growing organically,” he said. “I’m just the rudder of the ship. The good stuff’s on the ship, I’m just telling it where to go.”

If you want to check out Matt’s House, you can listen on Stitcher, Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, and more. To learn more about the pod, go to www.facebook.com/mattshousepod.