Passenger- Hippo Campus Review

Hippo Campus just came off the release of their first full album and a massive tour (I saw some of it, and reviewed it), and the release of the three track Warm Glow EP. They've been building their fame since 2015, starting in High School and releasing Bashful Creatures and South (the better of the two), two stellar EPs. I knew they'd release new music at some point as they played a few new songs at their show, but I assumed they'd release the song Joy, not this song, which I don't think I heard them play at their show. The song starts with a possibly electronic light and low bouncing beat reminiscent of bongos, surprising because they've traditionally been a real guitar and drum based band, but not really surprising considering they make more Indie music. Like the vocals in a lot of Hippo Campus songs the lyrics are hard to understand, but in this case still pretty inscrutable after many listens. The slightly gated piano is also new, partially because its a piano (which may have been fine in a limited sense in older records) but because it has some noticeable effects shaping it. The song is very well mixed and effortlessly calming, managing to touch on many moods. It does something many song can't: it's definitely a modern composition made possible by computers, but it could also be played seamlessly live. Later, the singing and guitars more closely match Hippo Campus' earlier work, but the backing oscillating guitar more closely resemble Young The Giant, and the backing synths and production sound like The Neighbourhood. This is a whole new sound for Hippo Campus, and features more additional vocals from their lead guitarist, which we may well see on the new album. Did I say new album? Well they are teasing new music and put this out and many new songs at shows, so there will be one. It will be different, and will be good, but we'll have to wait and see how much of each it can attain.