On their song ‘Sex Tape,’ the indie band references Vali-Hi, a 56-year-old movie theater outside of St. Paul.
In the Twin Cities , the indie - rock dance orchestra Hippo Campus are hometown heroes . Not only because they come up in the Minneapolis / St. Paul vista and have since remained active extremity of the residential district — open a local recording studio and launching a supportivemusic and arts collective — but because of how their medicine is laced with references to the metropolis that bring up them . Listening to the set ’s discography , you could pull back a map from Lake of the Isles to the Northeast , filling it with all the places that affect their youth .
One of those position cause an show on the Sung " Sex Tape , " off the2021 EPGood Dog , high-risk Dream(a release that was actually record after but released before their a la mode album , LP3 , which is out now ) . It ’s both a playfully snarky Sung dynasty about a friend they fell out of tinge withanda tribute to Minnesota summertime when they used to cross path with that former friend , a prison term when life had a path of feeling effervescent and loose . The address that conjures up the most images of Julys and Augusts of yesteryear is one about " sipping noose at the Vali - Hi Drive - In , " anoutdoor movie theaterthat still manoeuvre to this daylight in the eastern suburb of St. Paul .
According to lead vocalist and guitarist Jake Luppen , the lyric poem was originally " the Taco Bell drive - in . " in the end , " Vali - Hi " is what made the cutting — in part because they require " to cover [ their ] tracks a piece " on what ’s essentially an indie - fied diss track about a person they ’ve parted ways with , but also because the drive - in inspires memories of teenage debauchery and summertime hang gone by . " It ’s like a acknowledgment to a extension — like this part being from the same area and perchance , perchance hanging out at the same spot as we did a distich time , " lead guitar player Nathan Stocker say Thrillist .
Image by Maggie Rossetti for Thrillist / Photo by Tonje Thilesen
Open since 1966 , the 300 + -car - capacitance drive - in is the sort of place that feels like it ’s stuck in the past . But even as it remains unchanged , it ’s like a ritual for new generation of young people . " You just rend up . Cash only . 10 long horse a person , " Stocker says . " Just a simple transaction with the ticket lady there , and then you just find whatever spot ’s useable . "
" Tune into that staticky AM radio station for sound , " Luppen articulate . " fathom like asshole , but you do n’t care , because you ’re not there for the phone of the movie . "
" It ’s all part of the appeal , " Stocker says .
Although they remember going to the drive - in as fry , the Vali - Hi that " Sex Tape " reference is n’t needs one of house get - togethers . Rather , it ’s a beacon of their teen impulses : the place they pass to cosy up to first loves and to smuggle in sip of alcoholic drink when they were still underage . " It ’s a perfect place to pamper , " Stocker says . " In gamy schooling , it emphatically represented this unearthly window of opportunity . It ’s like two and a half — potentially four — hour of cuddling with your infatuation . It was a good office to give ear out with friends , get a little drink in you , and just have a good time . No responsibleness . Just a big , undefendable field with one C of machine and the mystery of what ’s happen in those vehicles . "
The acknowledgment to the movie theater of operations , like " Sex Tape " itself , also make up their prison term grow up out of doors of the Twin Cities more generally — a clock time Luppen calls " suburban and destitute . " He say , " All the houses attend the same , every yard is manicure , and there ’s no germ . You ’re like,‘Why are n’t there any bugs ? ' "
" There ’s such an innocence to [ the St. Paul suburb ] Woodbury that , no matter what you do , ca n’t really fuck that up . But it ’s also such a horrible representation of lack of multifariousness and right - wingers . It ’s like it ’s also a horrifying stead , but the sunset are keen , " Stocker aver . Because campaign - ins are basically the heart and soul of nostalgia — a souvenir of mid - C Americana that can be romanticized just as much as it can overlook the insidious nature of the past — the lyrical reference could n’t capsulize a suburban youth with more acuity .
Stocker read , " I see [ Vali - Hi ] as a sunset in my brain . I mean , even just the words ' Vali - Hi’—I straight off think of the sunset in Woodbury , because it ’s like 9:00 p.m. , the sunlight has n’t gone down . It ’s still luminosity out , and it ’s pink , rosy - hued skies , and you ’re kind of intoxicated . The windows are down — you’re not driving , but the window are down — and it ’s like it ’s there for the pickings , almost . "
