Hippo Campus with Miloe and papa mbye

Minneapolis indie rock band Hippo Campus –– made up of vocalist/guitarists Jake Luppen and Nathan Stocker, drummer Whistler Allen, bassist Zach Sutton, and trumpeter DeCarlo Jackson –– has grown up and into itself. Although the five-piece has been friends since middle school and put out a number of studio releases since its inception, it’s the new record, LP3, that’s the most honest portrait of who Hippo Campus is.

It’s a study in the nuances of growing up — coming to terms with mortality, the confusing journey of sexuality, bottoming out, seeing decisions from the night before in the harsh morning light; finding your identity as a person and as an artist — how that can be a collision of elation and shame, painful and joyful all at once.

LP3 is their strongest and most complete work yet — a freshly inked portrait excavating young adulthood and identity and, more importantly, how that personal identity fits into a larger camaraderie.