Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis is one of my favorite places in America. It's serene, speckled with emerald oak trees and gravel pathways, centered around a hole-in-the-ground waterfall. It's also an anomaly.
How could a park so lush and organically overgrown exist two miles from an international airport? Five miles from an NFL football stadium? Six miles from the nation's biggest shopping mall? Quad-City Times Reporter Gannon Hanevold An urban jungle surrounds this real one. Old railroad tracks loom over the top of the Minnehaha walkways. Metal and moss merge into one.
This duality defines the Twin Cities, so it feels like no coincidence that it also aligns with the sound of St. Paul-born band Hippo Campus, a pop-rock group who exploded to indie fame with 2017's "Landmark." The four-piece act has songs that are equal parts aspen and asphalt.
The inspiration often comes from their hometown, Hippo Campus guitarist Nathan Stocker said in a Friday interview from a 62-degree media trailer, at the piping hot Hinterland Music Festival in Saint Charles, Iowa. Hippo Campus lead singer, Jake Luppen, performs at Hinterland Music Festival on Friday, August 2, 2024, in St. Charles, Iowa.
"For me, that's really important in those moments where I'm looking for jumping-off points of inspiration," he said, speaking with calculated pauses before each word. Hippo Campus is releasing their fourth full-length album, "Flood," on Sept. 20.
The album's press release calls it Hippo Campus' best one ye.