Vinyl LP pressing housed in a gatefold sleeve. "There's a moment in growing up when it becomes clear that the road you walk is your own to cultivate." A surprisingly profound sentiment for a band of 21-year olds. Nevertheless, it's a sentiment that animates much of the BJ Burton (Bon Iver, Sylvan Esso) produced Landmark, the debut album from Minneapolis' Hippo Campus.
From the resplendent "Way It Goes," a guitar led gallop about the Instagram-filtered church of cool, to the propulsive "Boyish," a horn-kissed rumination on children of divorce, Landmark is shot through with a woozy dissonance between precocious wisdom and old-as-time coming of age stories. The result is a messy, brave, and earnest whole - not to mention, a tectonic shift forward for a young band still discovering itself.
A1 Sun Veins
A2 Way it Goes
A3 Vines
A4 Epitaph
A5 Simple Season
A6 Tuesday
A7 Western Kids
B1 Poems
B2 Monsoon
B3 Vacation
B4 Boyish
B5 Interlude
B6 Buttercup