Foster the People is fresh off the release of their 10th anniversary reissue of their debut album, Torches, but the band has more material in store for their fans. While discussing the anniversary project in an interview with Billboard, frontman Mark Foster shed some light on future music from the band and revealed that more than one album is in the process of being made.
“I would say that the headspace that we’re in right now, there’s multiple records that we’ve been working on, that are all very different from each other,” Foster said. “We’ve got one record that’s a little bit more in the ’50s and ’60s realm, we’ve got another in the ’70s and ’80s realm, and then we’ve got an abstract instrumental record that plays with solfeggio frequencies and ancient tunings. I wouldn’t call it a meditation record, but it’s more of a high concept record and is predominantly instrumental.”
Foster explained that Foster the People’s upcoming albums will have more of an organic sound, as they’re making sure all the unique moments from the recording process shine through in the final cut.
“I think letting the soul of ‘60s and ‘70s breeze in and allowing there be imperfections in the music is something that we’re very cognizant of while recording,” he added. “With the music that we’re making right now, I’m really interested in going back to the techniques that were being used in the ’60s and ’70s and actually trying to make a record in that old school way while still using modern techniques. Sonically, I imagine if John Lennon had access to all the synthesizers that we had today, that he would have been like a kid in a candy store. He would have used every tool available to him for songwriting, and pushed the envelope of creativity.”
Though Foster the People recently said goodbye to drummer and co-founding member Mark Pontius, his presence will be felt on the instrumental album, which Foster says Pontius contributed to before his departure from the band.
“The instrumental record was the last thing we were working on, and we actually were doing it at Mark’s house. It’s not totally finished yet, but creatively, we all did that together. With the other two records, most of those early ideas are the demos I’ve been doing at my studio in L.A. over the last two and a half years,” Foster explained. “We’ve done a portion of that with Mark, but a lot of the band’s songwriting starts with a singular song that I’ll start alone, or I’ll start something with Isom [Innis] and then we will flesh it out when it’s time to actually record the proper finished master. We’ll just try to sonically work around what’s there and make the song sound ready to be played so we wouldn’t be embarrassed if it was played on the radio.”
No release dates have been set for the albums, but Foster did reveal that he’s been “thinking about getting into lessons again” to bring his ideas to life. Sacred Heart Club, the band’s 2017 album, charted at No. 8 on the Top Rock Albums chart.