Follow-up albums are the toughest.

You’ve got to hit the ground running while staying true to your original purpose. You want to succeed, but you don’t want to lose what brought you together in the first place. This careful balance can be a make-or-break for bands around the globe. Fortunately for Hippo Campus, the St. Paul, Minnesota indie aficionados have managed to find that middle ground. On their second album Bambi, Hippo Campus bring their best with synth-driven anthems, powerfully poignant lyrics, and an unbridled urge to create something great.

The Good

The songs on Bambi feel wonderfully intimate, as if they were a direct stream of consciousness from the singer to the audience. Whether the band is detailing the anxieties of the modern world or discussing their upbringings, the songs all foster personal connections between the artist and the listener. They’re able to seize the fleeting grasp of intimacy with personal conviction, as if their very lives depended on it. They’re able to sound urgent and distant with the turn of a heel. Songs like Honestly sound like they were recorded in one take, while Bambi sounds polished and ready to seize the indie charts with ease. The diversity on their debut is nothing short of impressive.

The Great

The best part about HIppo Campus is the leaps and bounds they’ve taken in their personal growth. Their songs sound refreshing and upbeat, breathing new life into the indie genre. The replay value on each track is immense. You’ll find yourself listening to the same song over and over again while it lingers in your head for hours after your last listen. While the album only featured two lead singles, the majority of it could feature as a single series on its own. It can be hard enough for a band to find a strong lead single, but when your debut album features enough power-packed tracks to create a single series on its own, you’ve no doubt found yourself in a great space.

The Not Bad

Hippo Campus takes a one-two punch when it comes to songwriting. Typically, songs begin on a mellow note, eventually rising into a symphony of pure, powerful sound on the second half. From South‘s catchy bridge to Doubt‘s stylistic switch, no two songs sound the same on Bambi. This adds a wide array of unique listening experiences with each approach of the album, but the one-two formula can be a bit predictable at times. Having said that, a formulaic approach isn’t necessarily a bad thing; especially for an album as expansive as Bambi.

The Not Great

This might be a matter of personal preference, but I’m a big fan of Hippo Campus’ earlier work, specifically on the bashful creatures EP and warm glow. The songs are raw and visceral, substituting synths for roaring guitars and open, honest confessions. That isn’t to say that Bambi doesn’t do those things on its own; it’s an excellent album on its own, but I find myself more personally connected to bashful creatures than I do Bambi. A few songs on the album stray away from what makes Hippo Campus so unique, but they don’t take away from the overall excitement of the album. It’s hard to find something wrong with a project of this magnitude.

Conclusions

The follow-up is always the toughest, but Hippo Campus make it look easy with Bambi. If the charisma and fortitude shown on this album is a sign of things to come, they’ll be soaring up the undercards of festivals and shows alike in no time. The strides taken on Bambi show a band with an obscene amount of freshly tapped potential. With a follow-up this impressive, the sky’s the limit for the boys of Hippo Campus. Here’s to hoping they invested in a rocket ship.

Final Score: 9.2 Upbeat Anthems/10

What did you think of Bambi? For music with more larger-than-life instrumentation, take a look at Foxing’s Nearer My God. Need to match the sounds of springtime? Anderson. Paak has two albums worth exploring. Want music delivered directly to your inbox? Be sure to subscribe for an easy go-to for reviews, twice a week, every week!