Foster The People is the brainchild of Los Angeles, USA based musicians Mark Foster, Jacob “Cubbie” Fink and Mark Pontius, formed in 2009. Their brand of electronica infused guitar pop led to “Pumped Up Kicks” one of 2011’s biggest hit singles and a smash hit the world over.
It’s very telling that Foster The People frontman Mark Foster spent a year at a job writing commercial jingles. Not for the reason that one might think, however. Foster The People songs are far from soulless shards of pointlessly catchy noise wrenched into existence for no reason other than to get other people to give up their hard earned lucre.
Instead, they display a wonderfully deft ability to flit between genres that came from Foster being contractually obligated to write three different styles of song in an average day. Their songs feel equally natural whether their “Coming Of Age” or “Don’t Stop (Colors On The Ceiling)”’s sparkling guitar pop or the Prog leaning electro pop of “Helena Beat”.
Even the live versions of the deathless hit “Pumped Up Kicks” have an extended outro that flits between dubstep and disco in a way that sends every crowd that hears it completely bananas. In fact it was this song that arguably made them.
The trio wrote, recorded and released it onto the internet without a record contract at first, and almost immediately it got the attention of music blogs the world over. Once the major labels circled, the band picked the Columbia imprint Startime International and started honing their live act with festival appearances and a residency at The Echo, a legendary L.A nightclub.
“Pumped Up Kicks” grew into one of the biggest hits of 2011, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Several other hit singles followed, as did a couple of Grammy nominations for the subsequent debut album “Torches”.
The band continues to go from strength to strength with their sophomore effort “Supermodel”, and with that record, they kept their crown as one of the most thrillingly unique new bands in the world.
Stephen Day
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