Music & Culture

After A Delay, Foster The People Is Back In Business

by Stephen Thompson

Foster The People will return with its third, as-yet-untitled album this summer. In the meantime, the L.A. band has just released three new songs.
Foster The People will return with its third, as-yet-untitled album this summer. In the meantime, the L.A. band has just released three new songs. Neil Krug / Courtesy of the artist

The L.A. band Foster The People seemed to come out of nowhere back in 2011, when its song "Pumped Up Kicks" rocketed into intense, summer-long ubiquity. Torches, the album that spawned "Pumped Up Kicks," was a Grammy-nominated best-seller, and singer Mark Foster and drummer Mark Pontius performed a hugely popular Tiny Desk concert. Everything fell into place quickly.

But sustaining that success hasn't come easy. A follow-up album, 2014's Supermodel, charted well but didn't produce another huge single. Bassist Cubbie Fink left Foster The People the following year, and a third album has been in various stages of tinkering for two years now.

Finally, though, this month has brought a flurry of Foster The People news, starting with the announcement of a summer world tour and continuing today with the release of three new songs: "Doing It For The Money" (they're opposed, by the way), "Pay The Man" and "SHC." Look for more music to follow soon, and in the meantime, enjoy all three new songs below.

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