On February 24 Minneapolis indie pop band Hippo Campus will release their debut full-length album landmark via Grand Jury Music (US) and Transgressive Records (UK). Earlier this month, NPR All Songs Considered shared lead single "Boyish", calling it "forward thinking". Today, A.V. Club shares the corresponding video for "Boyish".
landmark was recorded by BJ Burton (Bon Iver, Sylvan Esso, etc.) at Sonic Ranch, a residential studio located on a 2300-acre pecan farm near the border between Texas and Mexico. The album retains the same relentless energy and impeccable musicianship that animated 2015's Bashful Creatures and South EPs, but finds the band searching for a more mature approach to songwriting. Familiar themes of aimlessness, young love, and friendship are complemented by tongue-in-cheek send ups of a culture obsessed with going viral. Songs like the resplendent "Way It Goes" or "Western Kids" wash over you with warm synths and spangled guitars, while slyly tackling the always-on world of social media and our obsession with timelines, feeds and glowing screens. Meanwhile, sonic revelations like the woozy "Monsoon" or triumphant "Poems" are studio-assisted studies in restraint and catharsis, ruminating on death, life and everything in between. In short, landmark has a sort of ambition and precocious wisdom that can only come from transitioning out of teenagehood and into adulthood.
Since that fateful run of SXSW shows in 2015, the band has maintained a tireless touring schedule, opening for acts such as Modest Mouse, Walk the Moon and Real Estate and playing several festival including Lollapalooza, Reading & Leeds and more. Today Hippo Campus announced a national headlining tour that kicks off February 15 in Fargo, ND. Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday, 11/4. Full list of dates below or click HERE.
Videos