Hippo Campus: Bambi Review

 

It's somewhat surprising that Bambi came out in 2018, sounding so 2005. Listening to the emo-pop affectations more than 10 years after Death Cab broke into the zeitgeist emphasizes how hard it is to pinpoint what rock has done to grow since the turn of the century. It's no wonder so many outlets talk about the death of rock at the hand of rap; what left is there to innovate upon? It's been novel, angry, glamorous, introspective, pretentious, sad, aloof, futuristic. The blending of genres is where the innovation continues to thrive, but even that's not new anymore. I've heard country rap albums, and if that doesn't spell apocalypse, I don't know what does. In some ways, this is a sad moment of stagnation for music if you allow your brain to cling to alarmism. If you ask me, it's a beautiful moment of era-superposition.

There's not much value in deriding Hippo Campus for chasing the trends they like here. If you like smooth, brassy-but-delicate vocals over spacious pretentious analog/digital mixes, you can find a lot of depth to cut away at the shortcomings of the approach. Better yet, you can embrace them ironically or genuinely, haters be damned. To be more direct about it, HC know where their advantages are, and have capitalized on them.

I'm particularly appreciative of the breadth of textures. Most everything fits without stepping on its own toes. That's not an easy feat; similar, good acts like Young the Giant, Atlas Genius, and Local Natives could learn a lesson or two from spinning this record a time or two. Think it Over, Bubbles, and Honestly present unique drumlines, guitar distortions, and song structures in succession. At no point does it feel like I'm being ripped out of the flow. Even in the moments that I'm not a big fan of (Anxious and Bubbles have jarring and rocky sidesteps) it's hard to fault them for going that direction. It fits the type of music they're making.

Similarly, the arrangement of the album allows you to dig deep into the tracks without getting fatigue. There are a lot of spacious songs here, but there are just as many songs uptempo and texture-concept-forward. There are times that this playfulness threatens to be overly cute or even shows their delusions of depth, but it's never more than a threat here and there. Bambi itself might be the closest the album comes to this, utilizing a skipping sample method to lead the production textures; it doesn't fit with the mopey "see I'm self aware that makes me cool right?" lyrics for one, but more than that it just comes off as the audio equivalent of trendy sunglasses. Even in these moments, the song construction is always solid, and puts those issues on the backburner.

Lyrically, I'm also quite game to forgive quite a bit. The problems being talked about are just north of "rich kid problems", but it's just as easy to just write them off as the naivety of youth. The temptation is to deride it as shallow, but HC has written this album like a novella, putting time into providing accurate and exhaustive descriptions of the subjects. It also is just fun to listen to how each lyric fits into the measures; particular highlights Bubbles and Golden work within the meter rather than doggedly dividing the measures evenly. 

I wish I had as good of a grasp on my feelings in my twenties as this record presents. For being the most Death Cab song on the list, Why Even Try very accurately identifies the problem of an emotion-led on/off youthful relationship; experience will tell you why it was that way, but there's nothing wrong with the honesty displayed so answerlessly. "The feelings burst, then they fall, we walk it back and patch things up. On and on." On Doubt, you want to grab frontman Jake Luppen by the collar and scream life lessons into his face. If anything I should be praising the rather mentally healthy choice to be so mindful of his feelings, forcing experience to be such a great teacher. There's value in the articulation.

There's a quirkiness to the approach that doesn't always hit my ear pleasingly, but it's crafted with care and intention, never grating with the more spacious moments in these opening songs. This isn't a group of songs borne from the pain of time--they're shamelessly oblivious of time, fretting on the small things. For those still at that stage, it will be relatable. For those older, it will bring up....all kinds of emotions, if only for a short while.

8.5/10