Hippo Campus/American Wrestlers/Diverge

Entertainment Weekly recently lauded Hippo Campus’ "shimmering pop-rock earworms,” which is a pretty good way of summing up their sound. Slick guitar melodies flit around tight, snappy percussion. (Two Door Cinema Club came to mind more than once while tripping through their EP.) “Sophie So,” for instance, sees guitarist Nathan Stocker cooking up a dazzling stew of rapid-fire arpeggios, all growing more frenzied as the song goes on. The band has a new EP coming out next month; until then, they’re pushing their new single, “The Halocline.” It’s an anthemic piece that musically recalls some of Justin Vernon’s Volcano Choir stuff at times. It’s also indicative of a young band wanting to push their music in bigger, deeper directions; we look forward to future releases. (Sandy)