My Amazon Reviews: Foster The People "Supermodel"

In the Shadow of "Pumped Up Kicks"
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Mark Foster, who essentially is Foster The People, had to work on the road with an actual band instead of his one man studio project. It makes his/their sophomore "Supermodel" a more expansive album than its predecessor. The songs are richer, with fuller sound and Foster's vocals are more assured than before. There's less dependence on gimmickry and more attention to making the songs solid throughout. The first single, "Coming Of Age," drives down this path expertly.

However, "Pumped Up Kicks" set the bar pretty high and "Torches" was an average album built around a brilliant single. "Supermodel" doesn't have anything to match that watermark. Even with "Coming Of Age," the rest of the album is - again - a pretty average affair. "Are You Who You Want to Be?" does up Foster The People's rock quotient, and "Pseudologia Fantastica" plays around with MGMT's trippiness (so does "A Beginner's Guide To Destroying The Moon," a better title than actual song), but "Supermodel" shows little growth from Foster The People's debut. Download the mentioned songs and you get the best of what can only be referred to as a sophomore slump of an album.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Foster The People "Torches"

Foster the Hooks
3 Out Of 5 Stars

The debut by Foster The People rides mainly ion the skills of lead singer/songwriter Mark Foster, who has found the way to homogenize the sound of indie and dance for his "Torches." He's got a knack for ear-worm choruses, already made unavoidable by the all-summer-long pervasiveness of "Pumped Up Kicks," and "Don't Stop." The music has an effervescence to it, which is interesting if you consider that "Kicks" is a song about a shooting spree.

That is what makes "Torches" both promising, interesting and frustrating. Mark sings in a Bee Gees helium voice, which keeps the music buzzy and floaty. There isn't much by way of depth, but there's loads of tart candy to be had. The opening of "Helana Beat" had me thinking Donna Summer and popped up on my I-Pod's random play. There's no way to deny it, "Foster The People" are a solid pop band that is currently rolling in some hipster cred. The question is going to be if they can lift themselves to the pop creativity of, say, Adam Levine/Maroon 5 or if "Pumped Up Kicks" is this year's MGMT and "Kids."