Hippo Campus: Warm Glow EP Review

By Joseph Connolly

After months upon painless months of waiting, Minnesota’s finest rock outfit Hippo Campus have finally released new material – containing the highly anticipated track ‘Baseball’.

From left to right: Nathan Stocker (guitar, backing vocals), Jake Luppen (guitar, lead vocals),
Whistler Allen (drums, backing vocals), Zach Sutton (bass, backing vocals)

The song, if you don’t know what all the fuss is about, has been heard in snippets through video-taped live performances uploaded to the internet, but a recorded version had never been released to the public until Friday, when the eager wait was finally rendered over.

The Warm Glow EP contains three songs, but the title track is the third on the list, and the longest. The first track is ‘Baseball’, undoubtedly the bounciest and most dance-friendly of the three.

The most committed of fans also heard a thirty-second teaser of Baseball on the MN Original-released Youtube video ‘Making of Landmark’, which documents the recording process behind the group’s debut album in a ten minute short. The film was released a month before the LP, meaning fans were waiting in certainty that this magnetic piece of music they’d just heard would be formulated into a full song for the debut, but they were left guessing when it was left off.

The cover art for Hippo Campus' new EP: Warm Glow
(no copyright infringement intended)

Now hearing it for the first time, it’s fair to say the song doesn’t disappoint. The distinctive indie riff invokes seaside vibes and immediately makes you wish you wrote it yourself – it’s a destined hit-maker. Whistler Allen’s refined drumming accompanies the trilly guitar piece before the song slows into the verse. The song accompanies the riff again during the chorus, with a melody to match – but it’s a shame we don’t hear it again on it’s own, just to appreciate the sheer beauty of it. You couldn’t make it sound happier if you tried. The song slows towards the centre with an intersection of sorts that the band have made their own. The relaxing echoes of the guitar are married with a slower vocal part, before the song drops into a telephonised-vocal chorus rendition. Lyrics-wise, the meaning of the song is just as cryptic and hard to interpret as any of the bands other efforts, but seems to be singing about some childhood sweetheart, that possibly left him. Alright, let’s be honest, I know as much as you. But even though what he’s singing about may pass everyone but the band by, three minutes and eighteen seconds is hardly long enough to appreciate such a good song.

Traveler is the second song on the EP and includes more elements of their earlier work, heard on songs such as Little Grace. Stocker’s expertise on the lead guitar is lavishly highlighted in this track, which goes straight in with Luppen’s vocals accompanied by a Strokes-esque guitar ostinato. The song is mellow but gets the feet moving and features some jangly acoustic guitar in the middle, drawing comparison to album tracks such as ‘Simple Season’. The band’s folk and country roots are apparent on this song, with a long coda that finishes the song off with Luppen wailing of a girl ‘he can’t see’, over juxtaposed backing vocals from his band mates. A solid, mid-tempo effort.

The title track of the EP is a swaying ballad which features the upper echelons of Luppen’s wide vocal range, his piercing falsetto opening the track amongst a repeating three-note guitar part. Almost like a lullaby, the song is a mixture of the XX and Foals. The band seem to like atmospheric, slow-burning pieces, but that isn’t a bad thing. At one point it sounds like it’s going to erupt into a chorus à la ‘Poems’, but this one is more of a ‘Monsoon’, with a steel-pan-effect guitar lick accompanying the vocals throughout the song. Uplifting anti-war lyrics add an emotional tinge to the track, and round off the EP in style, leaving a sweet resonating buzz in the ear that leaves you guessing as to just what Hippo Campus might come with next.

8/10