With its recorded-in-a-bathroom vocals, peppy tone and catchy singalong nature masking dark themes, 2011\u2019s \u201cPumped Up Kicks\u201d felt almost like a gimmick song, the new \u201cSemi-Charmed Life\u201d for the Twitter generation. It put Foster The People on the map in a big way, but one wondered if they deserved to be there.<\/p>\n
Supermodel <\/i>proves that they do simply because it does not sound like their debut. The sophomore record has similar polished pop\/rock songcraft and a looser, more organic, live feel than the debut Torches<\/i>, making it less of an indie-rock record (this is a good thing) and owing to the band’s live experience in between records. The concept here involves the dark side of capitalism, the need for instant acceptance (how many people liked your Facebook photo today? Only four? You are no longer popular, you loser) and putting on one\u2019s best face for the world, appearing as a \u201csupermodel\u201d so as to appear flawless. It\u2019s a necessary concept for today.<\/p>\n
The L.A. trio seems to be shooting for arena rock-ready anthems, such as the expansive midtempo \u201cComing Of Age,\u201d the vaguely psychedelic \u201cPseudologia Fantastica\u201d and the chorus of \u201cAre You What You Want To Be?,\u201d which dares you to sing along with the \u201cla la las\u201d as the music explodes underneath. \u201cAsk Yourself\u201d is updated U2 with grit and another singalong chant (\u201cIs this the life you\u2019ve been waiting for?\u201d), while \u201cNevermind\u201d showcases some nifty acoustic guitar patterns and chamber piano, sounding quite a bit like Oasis in the process.<\/p>\n
Mark Foster is able to mimic Brian Wilson, 311’s Nick Hexum and Liam Gallagher, and has a tendency to veer between vocal tones in the same song, which is generally fine except on nonsensical songs like \u201cGoats In Trees\u201d and the dull \u201cFire Escape.\u201d It works on the majestic stadium-sized \u201cA Beginner\u2019s Guide To Destroying The Moon\u201d and the strident \u201cBest Friend,\u201d which alternates staccato and soaring passages to excellent results and is the best song here. The disc ends with a thud due to a triptych of forgettable tracks, but the download-only song \u201cTabloid Super Junky,\u201d tacked on to the end of the pre-download version, should have been on the CD to end it properly.<\/p>\n
Foster The People originally started as a studio concept and then built a fan base through touring and the success of \u201cPumped Up Kicks,” which means that this music is simultaneously given studio flourishes (overproduction in spots, layers and complex arrangements that may be difficult to reproduce live) and a live arena rock feel, combining the best of both worlds for a very good ride. It is a record of ambition, of purpose and of hooks. <\/p>\n
This time, the dark lyrics behind the catchy songs are much more than a gimmick. Foster The People has become a very good band and Supermodel <\/i>is an addictive, slightly off-kilter pop-rock record that is both a huge step forward and an honest look at our culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":31914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8787],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-43641","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-foster-the-people","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43641"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}