Hippo Campus Surrendered Five Years of Work, Started Over & Made Their Best Album Ever: Flood

Today, Hippo Campus officially announce the best album they have ever made. But, to arrive at this pivotal point of collective self-confidence, the group of four childhood friends first had to sigh, surrender and start all the way over. Out September 20th on Psychic Hotline, Flood is a record and a rebirth, in which the Twin Cities band relinquished five years of work to ultimately capture 13 tracks in just 10 days on the Texas border. While the revelatory sessions took place at Sonic Ranch last fall, with longtime producers Caleb Wright (Charly Bliss, Samia) and Brad Cook (Bon Iver, Waxahatchee), the process began what now feels like an epoch ago. The same night that Hippo Campus celebrated their previous LP3, they found out someone they loved had unexpectedly passed. The whiplash of adulthood was amplified by the effects of death, dejection, addiction and anxiety, so they committed themselves to the overwhelming ambition of creating something profound and life-changing. They got sober together, maintained their regular routine of group therapy, wrote more than 100 songs, took a step back and suddenly realized they didn't actually enjoy what they were making.

For a band that has surpassed a billion streams, sold out historic venues like Red Rocks, performed on television screens and festival stages around the world – all by way of the irresistible, spring-loaded songwriting that fills their streak of experimental pop and emphatic rock albums – they knew whatever they were doing this time simply was not good enough. The soul was obfuscated, so alongside Wright and Cook, they cleaned the slate and dropped all preconceptions of how they thought they had to sound, stopped themselves from trying to force out a so-called masterpiece, and committed each other to cutting what they all liked best: no second guessing or listening back, only a mantra of forward momentum. Less than two weeks later, singer Jake Luppen, guitarist Nathan Stocker, drummer Whistler Allen and bassist Zach Sutton emerged with Flood. 

Pre-order Flood, listen to singles "Paranoid," "Tooth Fairy" and "Everything at Once," and watch the new music video for "Paranoid": HERE

"'Paranoid' is the collection of sun flares plastered against your eyelids after falling asleep outside," says the band. "What's left of whipping shitties in your self-conscious for too long. It's a hard look in the unforgiving mirror and the sobering realization that not all questions have answers."

Like "Paranoid" and its pairing of existential questions with endless propulsion, Flood sits at the intersection of vulnerability and urgency. The album filters all-encompassing feelings through the type of absorbing arrangements and massive hooks that can only be pulled off by a group of friends who have been speaking the same musical and emotional language since they were kids. Thus, Flood shows how four people connected so intimately for so long can evolve as individuals, while preserving the bond that makes what they do together so special. 

"Paranoid" arrives on the heels of recently released singles and music videos for "Tooth Fairy" and "Everything at Once," which earned a million streams in a month, and has been performed live at Governors Ball, Summerfest and Day In Day Out. Throughout the rest of Flood, Hippo Campus deliver tightly-coiled theses on self-criticism and self-forgiveness, empowerment and falling short of expectations, failed relationships and finding a way forward. The sentiments are raw, real and unguarded, backed by subtle key changes and tempo shifts, and the innate sophistication they are able to present so effortlessly. 

As Hippo Campus exit the traditional label system to release Flood through an independent, artist-run record company founded by their pals in Sylvan Esso, they are also preparing to play their biggest shows to date. The band will have more to announce soon, following a stage-headlining set at Lollapalooza, stops at Hinterland and Minnesota Yacht Club, and more you can find below and at hippocampus.band/#tour.