Now,ย maybe my title is ever-so-slightly clickbait. In reality, who’s out there calling Foster The People a one-hit-wonder band? Well, I was, through sheer ignorance alone. I had only ever heard the world-famous “Pumped Up Kicks” (who some peopleย still sing along to totally oblivious of the morbid subject matter). I’m now seeing how unfair it was to think of the band as so, since discovering more of their music.
I found the track “Houdini”, also from their 2011 albumย Torches, late this summer whilst travelling. It’s great! Again, it’s lyrics aren’t the jolliest, but damn does that song make you want to dance. I’m convinced that lead singer Matt Foster’s voice would work over any instrumental. It must be a rule for every song of theirs to be catchy beyond belief — which makes sense, when I remember a YouTube comment I saw years ago saying Foster used to work designing jingles for adverts.
If that’s not true, then blame the random commenter, not me.
Since my eye-opening, I’ve added a variety of Foster The People songs to playlist from various albums; “Best Friend” from 2011’s Supermodel, “Locus Eater” from 2017’sย Sacred Hearts Club — the list goes on. I don’t know if “Houdini” is my favourite of these finds, but it’s definitely the one I listen to the most.
It was just fun to find out that not all the artists we write off as one-hit-wonders are ones.
