Minnesotan quintet Hippo Campus are back with new music, following swiftly on the heels of their Good Dog, Bad Dream EP from earlier this year. With the release of their infectious and woozy new single “Boys” they also have announced details of their forthcoming record LP3, which is set for release on February 4 on Grand Jury. Speaking of “Boys”, frontman Jake Luppen explains:
“It was about this party I went to where I had all these crazy experiences and then woke up feeling like, “I need to change my life right now.” The next day I went to New York and came back, hung out with our new manager, and felt slightly better. It’s like that feeling when you’re drunk and then you wake up hungover and you hate yourself.
“It’s also about exploring sexuality, and the elusiveness of it. I’ve always felt that sexual preference is something that exists beyond the binary. At different points in your life you feel different ways, and that’s ok. In this track we’re kind of comparing that journey to our first trips to NY. It’s this huge place that is always moving past us while we’re trying to grab a hold of it.“
“Boys” follows on neatly from the wordier material of Good Dog, Bad Dream, and like Hippo Campus have come known for, it’s full of delightful, melodic charm, from the hazy percussion to the half-screeching guitar riff. Like a hangover, it finds that line between a dreamy, misremembered drunken memory and a grating headache remind you how much you drank the night before. “Kissing boys, missing work, got hungover from your words / Same New York, it’s the worst, all these nights are a blur,” Luppen repeats with a bleary determination, and it’s that perfect swirl of regret, confusion, and desire to never do it again.
Watch the video for “Boys” below, or listen on your favourite streaming platform.
Hippo Campus’ new album LP3 is out 4th February 2022. Keep in touch with them via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
