Foster the People
Sacred Hearts Club Columbia
Foster the People’s stunning smash single “Pumped Up Kicks” seemed to surprise everyone in 2011 — including the band.
The California group’s response to creating a smart, catchy anthem that many people misunderstood was to put out the more straightforward follow-up album, Supermodel.
With its third, Foster the People is back to using catchy music to deliver more complicated, pumped-up ideas.
The first single “Doing It for the Money” is a clever start, considering how the moody R&B singalong declares they’re “not doing it for the money.” “I Love My Friends” has the same feel as “Pumped Up Kicks,” as singer Mark Foster sings, “We’re a disaster, yeah, you know it’s true” over an irresistible groove. “Pay the Man” combines dark lyrics and light melodies, while “Harden the Paint” moves between dreamy dance pop arrangements and spare trap grooves.
The most ambitious is “Loyal Like Sid & Nancy,” which jumps between lush dance pop and the bluntness of Yeezus-era hip-hop. Foster piles on a stream of stark images, from “Got my hands up in the air, I’m saying I can’t breathe” to pretending “one day we’ll be the greatest of the Gatsbys” in the verses. In the chorus, he prays for a solution and hopes that it will come eventually, though that didn’t go so well for the late Sex Pistol Sid Vicious (who overdosed on heroin) and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen, who was murdered in the Chelsea Hotel.
The album is well-crafted, but it does feel that the band is pulling its punches at times.
Hot tracks: “Loyal Like Sid & Nancy,” “Doing It for the Money”