Sacred Hearts Club- Foster the People Review

Image result for sacred hearts clubI really don't know what to think about this album. Some of it is boring and grating, but it can be pretty good. This is the third album by Foster the People of Pumped Up Kicks fame, and departs from their normal and tire indie pop sound for a darker and more electronic sound. They claim that it's influenced by retro psychedelia and such, but it's really just hip hop.

The album starts with the stellar songs Pay The Man and Doing It For The Money, which when they originally came out I listened to over and over again. They have excellent electronic elements, are well crafted, and have memorable but perplexing lyrics. After that is Sit Next To Me, which I've already railed as basic and boring, so there really isn't anything for me to say about it. SHC has a great indie pop guitar, driving beat, chorus, and some very memorable lyrics, but has some very annoying vocals and electronic parts. I Love My Friends is extremely annoying, and invades your ears with its grating singing style that i hoped would've been left behind for this album, and has an okay guitar that feels stolen from another song. Orange Dream is boring but Static Space Lover has vocalist Jena Malone on it too, and has decent vocals but still has terrible keyboards and too much going on.

Lotus Eater is one of the best songs on the album, and isn't particularly new as it has been played at multiple shows, but wasn't released as a single. And for good reason too, with Mark Foster doing his best Jack White impression with the backing of an excellent guitar that carries the song with every dimension of its chords. Time to Get Closer is just purely grating on the ears, and I'm glad it ends when it does. Loyal Like Sid & Nancy is a great song to listen to (without focusing too much on its unrelated lyrics and annoying horns), with its semi-house sound and rapid fire driving rap. Harden The Paint feels like it could've been on any Foster The People album, but with its vocals that fully utilize Mark Foster's voice, weird synths and a good beat, but it's another song you wouldn't really want to listen to fully. III is just annoying, is too cluttered and has very poor coordination between the wailing vocals and the instrumentals.

I didn't like Foster he People before this album. But Pay The Man, Doing It For The Money and Lotus Eater are excellent songs, mainly because they sound nothing like the older Foster the People. In those songs I see potential, but it's all let down by the poor instrumentals and grating vocals of the rest of the album, with the best of the rest being no better than background music. Hopefully Foster The People will continue along the lines of Lotus Eater(which should be an alternative hit) or doing It For The Money(which should be a pop hit), but I think I'll just be left with me and my hopes playing those four good songs on repeat.

By the way, please comment and tell me which I should do first: top ten Coldplay, Imagine Dragons, or 21 Pilots songs. Thanks!

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