Introducing: hippo campus

Sophie Mitchell

‘Minnesotan boys making music,’ states their Instagram bio. A plain enough description of the alt-rock four-piece whose blossoming fame and cult following is far from ordinary. Hippo Campus (@thehalocline, if you were curious) is comprised of guitarist and vocalist Jake Luppen, bassist Zach Sutton, guitarist Nathan Stocker, and drummer Whistler Allen - all of whom are yet to reach legal drinking age in the good ol’ U.S.A. In fact, they graduated high school (college, ya Brits) the same year I did. They debuted on Conan this April, re-released their breakout EP in May, and have spent the summer smashing festivals across the globe, including SXSW, Lollapalooza, and Reading & Leeds. Earlier this year, I ate cornflakes with water as I was out of milk. Different worlds. 

Listening to Hippo Campus, both lyrically and technically, you wouldn’t suspect their youth. Not that age should matter, anyway. In an interview with local radio, The Current, the group touched on prejudice they faced as a teen band. Their age preceded their music, and the disgruntled bunch got used to being perceived as pubescent, garage- dwelling noisemakers when meeting more seasoned artists. Yet one watch of a Hippo Campus performance (and a good listen to their impressively polished sound) and the ageist predilection of their fellow music biz colleagues was quick to crumble.

With many comparisons to both Little Comets and Vampire Weekend (especially vocalist Luppen’s uncanny Ezra Koenig-esque inflection), Hippo Campus is a sunny alt-rock dream. Their debut EP, Bashful Creatures, is catchy and spirited, but peppered with shits, fucks, and well developed lyrics that prevent it from being too peppy. In anticipation of their second EP (due out in October), the band released single The Halocline earlier this week. It’s more mellow, more drawn out, and surges into a crescendo of percussion and a repeated ‘This is our home / This is our only way’ until ebbing away with hazy guitar twangs. Hopefully, the broodier tune is a fair indication of the overall tone of the upcoming fall release. It would be well interesting to see the group handle slower, moodier music. I’ve got no doubts they would do so very, very well.