Hippo Campus – LP3

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The aptly titled third studio album from Saint Paul, Minnesota’s own indie rock band Hippo Campus is filled with vibrant and layered guitars, smooth as silk vocal harmonies, and plenty of reasons to get excited for their latest direction in their sound. Having just released an EP called Good Dog, Bad Dream last year, this young band appears to have no limitations in their creativity and approach to their music in general. I really enjoyed their last full-length effort, Bambi, and their debut called Landmark made me a lifelong follower of their music, yet with LP3 I couldn’t help but feel a little unfulfilled. This was the first album I didn’t love from first listen, and yet there’s plenty to like on this record that has expanded the possibilities of this band’s music. Time will tell if some of the feelings I have on future spins of this album leave me with a better outlook on this LP.

The styles on LP3 range from the modern pop of 2021’s breakthrough artist, Glass Animals, with some of the cool guitar tones and elements of The 1975, all put into a blender of the quirky songwriting approach that Hippo Campus fans have grown accustomed to. “2 Young 2 Die” opens with some faint horns, and a programmed beat follows the lyrics that are sometimes muddied through a vocoder. I found some of the production elements to be a bit distracting from the overall polish of the opener. Things improve on “Blew Its,” that features a great, spiraling, and speedy guitar riff looped throughout the verses. The bridge of, “Cold weather, keep it in the cabinet / If you wanna try to fuck shit up / Goddamn, it’s a cold affection / Goddamn, it’s a slow affection / Should probably get myself a jacket / If you wanna try to build back up / Goddamn, it’s a cold affection / Goddamn, it’s a slow affection,” is almost undecipherable without a lyric sheet, as the production elements leave Jake Luppen’s vocals in the background with the instruments taking the lead.

”Ashtray” follows with a more straight-forward indie rock approach, and ends up sounding like the most accessible of the first three songs. The chorus plays out almost like an accompaniment to the verse with the lyrical lines of, “You took it to heart like an ashtray (Easy) / I always forget what I’m trying to say / Asleep at the wheel like a drunk truck driver / Hung up to dry with the thief and the liar,” in that it’s tough to determine where the hook starts and ends. It doesn’t match most of the formulas the band perfected on the earlier material, and wraps up in just over two and a half minutes. “Bang Bang” on the other hand, encapsulates everything I love about this band. It features a musical landscape that allows for the vocals to be in the forefront and drive the song into an enjoyable direction.

Things continue to improve on “Semi Pro,” a track that initially reminded me of the mid-tempo songs found on The 1975’s last two albums. The dreamy chorus of, “It feels like it should / I’ll just let you do the talking / If you wanna stay back, you should / I can’t promise you I’m anything / But it feels so damn good / You just love the way I want ya / But I’m cool with it, so knock on wood / I’ve been bad, but I’m only getting better / I’ve been bad, but I’m only getting better,” plays out really well and makes for a memorable hook in a great-sounding single.

”Ride or Die” sounds similar to the quirky indie rock of Vampire Weekend with its vocal approach, and the drum beat keeps the band on the right trajectory with its tone. The song opens up with the repeated chorus, and doesn’t feature the first verse until well-into the song. Luppen confidently delivers the lines of, “If you count the seconds I lack I’ll break my back just thinking about it / Add it up and then subtract, I’ll leave you be if you want me to / Spent my money but I’ll make it back / Like cold hard cash, like blood on the pavement / Add it up and then subtract, I’ll leave you be if you want me to.” It seemed like an obvious choice of a single, as it reminds the listener of the layered-sounding, great tunes Hippo Campus has been cutting their teeth to.

Other songs like the mid-tempo “Scorpio” find the band experimenting with different guitar tones and other background instruments to further round out their sound. Whereas “Listerine” plays out like a dreamscape with Luppen’s near-falsetto opening chorus of, “Your closet smile, held like a knife / The sweetest thing, you’re goddamn right / I’d stay awake for you to put me in the corner / You mess it up for me, we’ll be history / You’ve got lips and I’ve got Listerine / But you can’t wash the fucked up out of me tonight.” Most of the lyrical material found on LP3 strikes a balance between finding the best part of relationships, while still considering others point of views on their outlook.

My personal favorite comes on lead single, “Boys,” that makes this record so damn fun and rewarding to listen to. The tightly woven chorus of, “Kissing boys, missing work, got hungover from your words / Same New York, it’s the worst, all these nights are a blur / Going broke, make it rain, ain’t got nobody to blame / All this time down the drain, I’m the best at insane,” is incredibly catchy, and still has plenty to unpack in its lyrics. Hippo Campus is at their best on tracks like this where they can explain their view of the world through their well constructed music.

The album closes out with its only ballad in “Understand,” a song about pondering whether the person we’re with is worth all of the chaos that surrounds them, If you can find that person who can cut through all of that bullshit, it makes it all worthwhile in the long run. Luppen brings further context in the second verse of, “Where’s the worry in the wrong thing? / Gotta find the right scene and I’m getting clean / Running out of energy playing for the wrong team / Like a bad dream / When’d we get so far away from what we wanted, babe? / Why’d we run away? / Going on like there’s nothing’s wrong, tryna find the better days / ‘Til they fade away.” And with that, Hippo Campus closes out their third full chapter of their band that continues to push the envelope and expectations for what their band is and can become. While this was the first album I didn’t categorically love on the first few spins, LP3 will be one of those records I’ll continue to explore, learn from, and pick out even more “Easter eggs” in each of the lyrics and instrumentation as I revisit it often.

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