Press Play: Hippo Campus

Hippo Campus is a quartet out of St. Paul, Minnesota. The band members Whistler Allen, Jake Luppen, Nathan Stocker, and Zach Sutton met in high school, formed the band, and struck it big.

The band received some acclaim earlier this year with the release of their debut album titled Landmark. Last month, the band released a new EP titled Warm Glow. And, this past week, Hippo Campus was featured as on our Top 10 Countdown.

Warm Glow is made up of three unique songs:

♫ THERE’S SOMETHING FICTION ABOUT THE WAY THAT REALITY IS GOING ♫

Right out the gate, Hippo Campus delivers with the opening track. The song “Baseball” is a masterfully-constructed indie-pop dream. The lyrics, like many songs on the EP, are open for interpretation. The song has more pop sensibilities than the other songs featured and has one of the catchiest hooks in my recent recollection. As soon as I heard the opening riff, I knew who I writing about this week. Lyrically, it seems to be about judging a person wrongly. But, like any of the songs, it seems to be up to the listener to decide.

 

♫ STRIP ME DOWN TO A HEART AND LUNGS ♫

The lyrics of this song is like beautiful poetry. “Traveler” is a song about emotional pain. It feels so deeply personal that you feel it in every line. Every lyric has a story tied to it and all you can do is have empathy for the pain. The song seems to be about longing for stability, but knowing that it isn’t in your nature to stay. Your past mistakes are distant memories that you can never undo. This is something I believe most people can relate to and is brilliantly depicted in the song.

 

♫ WARM GLOW MORNINGS SOAKED IN PASTEL TEA ♫

Have you ever just sat outside and looked at the sunset and felt truly at peace? That is this song. The title track “Warm Glow” is self-contemplation epitomized. It’s a perfect closer for the EP. The first two tracks full of self-doubt and this track is realizing that maybe everything’s fine. Maybe, you have everything you could ever want, right here in this moment.

Or, at least, that’s what I interpreted . . .

Check out more from Hippo Campus and other artists like them by keeping tuned in to RSURadio.com!