When you put on new album and you're happily bopping along to the infectious funk-disco beat of the first track, you might hardly notice the growing sense of dread in the lyrics, as dark as the music is silly-light. Welcome back, Mark Foster.
鈥淢y friends were going out last night and I still haven't heard from them,鈥� he sings in 鈥淪ee You in the Afterlife,鈥� a tune that has scary newspaper headlines, an empty Colosseum and even a reference to the war in Ukraine. 鈥淚t's like we've all been hypnotized.鈥�
It's been seven years since 2017鈥檚 album and Foster and his bandmates haven't lost a step, making thoughtful, first-rate pop for a jangled, insecure era with the 11-track 鈥淧aradise State of Mind,鈥� the majority written with Isom Innis and with Foster producing the lion's share for the first time.
Like the last collection, Foster the People has glistening pop beside complex tuners, with many of the songs eventually dipping into experimental territory or heavy distortion, like the unconventional flute solo on 鈥淪ometimes I Wanna Be Bad鈥� and the hard-to-love 鈥淕litchzig,鈥� which goes through a half-dozen time signatures, shrieking trumpet and elements of antiseptic Kraftwerk.
Highlights include filled with a falsetto chorus and hand-claps, which sounds like it was designed for a roller rink in the 鈥�70s 鈥� with unsteady lyrics like 鈥淚 let the darkness in to teach me鈥� 鈥� and 鈥淟et Go,鈥� which starts out like a dreamy blast of positive vibes until the last third, when what can only be described as heavenly robots hijack the song, singing, 鈥淭o be broken is to be set free.鈥�
The heavily distorted, synthetic-sounding 鈥淔eed Me鈥� is like a sexy come-on in the digital era 鈥� 鈥淚 want to hack your code and be your anti-hero/Turn you on and let my one activate your zero鈥� 鈥� while Foster reveals perhaps his motivation for all this wonderful, creepy weirdness on the last song, 鈥淎 Diamond to be Born.鈥�
鈥淚 look at myself through a broken lens,鈥� he sings in the song, so spacey that it's almost a prayer. 鈥淭ry my best to keep from unravelling.鈥� You and us both, brother. Along the way, he's given us another diamond.
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Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press
