Stream Minneapolis Newcomers Hippo Campus New Song ‘Souls’

One of the perils of youth is that you don’t know what you don’t know, though the barely out-of-high-school foursome in Hippo Campus make a convincing argument that naïveté can also be a highly underrated asset. ‘Souls’, the first track posted from their debut EP wears ignorance as a badge of honour as the Minneapolis band careens from peak to valley and back again. Much like Oasis in their self-assured, swaggering prime, the appeal of Hippo Campus lies in the delivery – Jake Luppen’s lilting falsetto and Nathan Stocker’s arpeggiated leads. They sound nothing like Oasis, mind – their record collections lean heavier on Wu Lyf, Bombay Bicycle Club and Vampire Weekend than The Beatles – and yet like Oasis, they’re all about the feeling, subtlety be damned. By the time Luppen swears that “the night was ours for taking,” it’s clear his boast is far from empty.