The Opposite of Guilt

Hippo Campus' youthful and exuberant brand on indie pop-rock has always been tinged with an understated melancholy that might not be detected at first listen - one that accompanied the process of leaving childhood naivety behind in exchange for a more mature way of relating to the world. And part of that process involved negotiating one's relationships with adults, especially in "South".  

With the release of "monsoon", in anticipation of the February 24 release their debut full-length album landmark (2017) via Grand Jury Music in the US and Transgressive Records in the UK, the Minneapolis quartet contrast the rambunctious first single from the album, "boyish", with a slower, sombre and haunting meditation on the lack of grief following the death of a family member:

"The words in 'monsoon' deal with the death of a family member and the surprising lack of devastating grief. There was joy in the life that had been lived, instead of regret for what could've been. The monsoon itself became a metaphor for not experiencing that familiar and widely expressed "it should've been me" feeling, and trying to tackle that conflicting guilt; the guilt of not feeling guilty. Recreating that world to exist in this song was a therapeutic and rewarding process."

Nathan Stocker, BroadwayWorld

Against hypnotic and minimalist instrumentation, "monsoon" offers a poignant tribute to the life that was lived, broadening their thematic and sonic range in the process:

'Just two days after the first of June

A pine with arms brushing off the dew

Unlike a sky copious with death

Precipitation of heart and head

Should wash the rest of her youth away

And carry on with it as she may

But something's pending curvaceously

Cuz sunburned skin won't agree with me

It should've been me

The pleasure's good as the pleasures sound

My chin held shut so my heart can talk louder

I was a mess just like the pool

Our days been crossed out of sunday school

July has always been shy of June

Some monsoon...

Come heavy of a golden hue

My monsoon...

Monsoon

It should've been me

It should've been me

Lyrics: Musixmatch