Hippo Campus - Landmark (LP, Gatefold)

Facts 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.