Los Angeles, CA · indie-pop · synth-pop

Foster the People

1 upcoming festival

Sunny indie-pop hooks concealing consistently dark lyrics — a trick they've never stopped pulling since 'Pumped Up Kicks' snuck onto every radio.

Foster the People formed in Los Angeles in 2009 around songwriter Mark Foster, and broke through with "Pumped Up Kicks," a track whose whistled hook and loping bassline carried lyrics about a school shooting — a contrast between bright surfaces and unsettling subject matter that has recurred throughout their work.

The band's music sits between indie pop and synth-pop, built on falsetto vocals, layered keyboards and dance-oriented rhythms, with Foster's background in production and commercial jingle writing audible in the polish of the arrangements. Later records widened the palette toward psychedelic and R&B-tinged pop while keeping the emphasis on hooks.

indie-popsynth-pop