Hippo Campus LP3: Ode to the Audience

By Adri Pray

Following their 2021 EP, Good Dog, Bad Dream, American indie rock band Hippo Campus released their latest album, LP3, on February 4th. LP3 proves to be a synth-heavy, honest release concerning the importance of taking a step back and checking in on oneself.

The album commences with an ambient synth sound on “2 Young 2 Die,” a sultry, dark chorale that frontman Jake Luppen and New York-based singer-songwriter Raffaella echo throughout the chorus. Cut by the bright tempo, “2 Young 2 Die” very effectively reminds listeners what it means to be youthful, a message worth paying attention to.

Continuing this message is “Semi Pro,” a sports metaphor-riddled track that tackles the hardships that have come in the music industry as a direct result of the pandemic. As the first non-explicit song of the album, its intentional word choice allows it to be one of the most meaningful. This certain language choice not only reflects the purity of the intention within this piece but also inspires awe in the listener.

The song’s metaphor of being controlled by the industry is strong and is solely based on the composition. Like many of the tracks, “Semi Pro” starts with the winding up of an instrument, as if Hippo Campus is being wound up to deliver another album, another melody, and acts as a commentary on the industry, an artistic choice that should be applauded.

“Semi Pro” is sandwiched between a trilogy storyline composed of “Bang Bang,” “Ride or Die,” and “Scorpio.” “Bang Bang” represents the newness at the start of every relationship through raunchy lyrics and upbeat synths. “Our strange divide / We’re pulled in two directions / I’m not that guy / I’m barely keeping it together,” Luppen sings, implying he can’t be the partner the other one needs.

Hippo Campus starts to question the budding relationship in the lyrics of “Ride or Die,” the second song in this trilogy of storytelling, when Luppen sings “Could you see right through me?” multiple times throughout the track. Other lyrics, like “If you want to go and waste my time for my love, pay no mind to my love / You could walk right through me,” or “Spent my money but I’ll make it back, like cold hard cash, like blood on the pavement,” propel the main theme further as they decide if a relationship will work.

Immediately following “Ride or Die” is “Scorpio,” a partially binaural finale in this storyline that tells of the complete end of the relationship. A stripped guitar melody launches this song, imitating that of “Leaves From The Vine (Little Soldier Boy)” from the Avatar series. 

“Scorpio” depicts the final stage of their story: the breakup. “Can’t put away what you left in my head / While I was looking upwards, you were looking back then,” Luppen sings, regretting the miscommunication in the relationship. The song’s title is intriguing because Scorpios are stereotyped as being deceptive and secretive, descriptors that didn’t fit the feel of the song. The lyrics “Scorpio, we might be the same / You’re so good at laughing off the things that affect you” send the message that this Scorpio is an unbothered individual, contrary to the expressed stereotype. The other partner is the deceitful one, as Luppen continues on in the song, “Stirring the pot with our fate in my hands / It feels so incredible / Wait for the time when it comes back around / It cures like an antidote / That you got when I messed with your heart.” Taking accountability is what makes this such an amicable break up song; it leaves the listener with the sense of a fully rounded out relationship. 

The album ends on “Understand,” which seems to be another breakup song at first listen but proves to be much more. Subtle noises fill the background: a ticking metronome, metal can clattering, guitar riffs seemingly out of place, all adding up to an ode to the audience. The main lyric repeated is “I don’t care what we are, it just has to work,” which echoes the sentiment heard in “Semi Pro.” “Understand” deals with the relationship the band has with the industry due to the pandemic; the four-minute 30-second song is a compromise in its entirety.

Echoing the message from earlier songs in the album, Hippo Campus is taking “Understand” as an opportunity to remind their fanbase the importance of community. This song is many things: a thank you, a compromise, but it is mostly a love letter to their supporters. “Where we end is somewhere far / Something hard to understand” can be interpreted to mean “no matter where we end up, we’re glad we had you to understand.”

Hippo Campus has written an incredibly honest and raw third album, a choice that will only strengthen the bond between fan and artist.