Foster The People: "Somewhere down the line, we’re related to Daniel O’Connell"

Hardcore astrologists reckon there are seismic shifts in the cosmos every seven years, perhaps; or maybe it just has a nice ring to it. Either way, it’s been seven years since the last Foster The People album – the electronic and soul influenced Sacred Hearts Club. Seven years of FTP hush – whereas the previous seven years witnessed the formation of the band; the viral success of mega-hit ‘Pumped Up Kicks’; the release of three critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums; and endless touring. That’s a cosmic dichotomy right there.

The departure of Mark Pontius from the band in 2021 leaves the other Mark, Foster – lead singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist – as the sole original member. Joining me down the Zoom line from early morning LA to talk about new record Paradise State Of Mind, he’s good company. Indeed, Foster is quick to laugh and scribbles notes about anything that suddenly interests him: the Irish band Foster & Allen; Dylan Jones’ book about the song ‘Wichita Lineman’; and how legendary session musicians The Wrecking Crew got their name.

My wife being a Foster, I wonder if there’s any Irish blood in him. Turns out there’s more than a tad...

“My dad’s been trying to trace the line back,” Mark explains. “Somewhere down the line, we’re related to Daniel O’Connell. My paternal side is the Fosters, and my maternal side is Kelly and Kirkpatrick. I grew up very close to my Irish heritage. My Irish grandparents were in Michigan [Mark grew up in neighbouring Ohio]. we laughed a lot, told a lot of stories, played cards and definitely shared in the revelry of storytelling.”

Part of Mark’s process in the creation of Paradise State Of Mind was to conduct a case study of the 1970s crossover of disco, funk, gospel and jazz. ‘Glitchzig’, for example, beautifully melds krautrock, psychedelia, prog and jazz. How do you start to make a track like that?

“That’s cool that you gravitated towards that one,” Mark enthuses. “I can always tell who the artists are in my friend group – they like ‘Glitchzig’. Look, I like all different kinds of music. I show up in the studio on any given day and I could write a rock song one day, a pop song another, an acoustic ballad on another. So, starting with a case study on the late ‘70s/early ‘80s was an interesting boundary to operate within, to give some cohesion.

“Part of the reason I did that is because when I write, I’m like a little kid. I try to throw all cerebral theory out and forget anything I know about music. I’ll pick up a guitar or a piano, and just start playing, hitting on it, banging on it, playing chords. I don’t know where I’m going. I’m just trying to usher in a flow state that’s playful and not judgmental. Doing things like that gets me out of my comfort zone, and ‘Glitchzig’ is a perfect example. That’s just me being a little kid banging on a piano and chasing what it’s revealing to me.”

Mark teases out the record’s subject matter.

“That song and a lot of this record is about getting healthy,” he continues. “Coming out of the pandemic, I was in such a heavy headspace. I hadn’t played live. We hadn’t put any music out. I’d gone dark on social media. So, I didn’t have that back and forth with people. The pandemic had atrophied a lot my friendships. This record was really birthed out of that.

“Also, throughout that period I had gotten sober. So it felt like there were a lot of parts of me that got melted in a crucible where I had to dig deep. ‘Glitchzig’ represents that path, and what I love about that song is that, in the beginning, it’s this chaotic electronic syncopation of elements. It feels like the chaos and mania of a city, but it transitions into this freeform jazz. Both of those things, even though they’re on opposite ends of the spectrum, feel like the same mood to me.”

That’s some heavy stuff, but conversely, album opener ‘See You In The Afterlife’ is a hoot. I tell him the title boasts a decidledly Irish sense of gallows humour.

“One hundred percent,” he laughs. “I mean, it’s a great Trojan horse, isn’t it? You can use metaphor and humour to sneak in some pretty serious messages, which people wouldn’t want to listen to otherwise. A good melody and a dancey beat are a good way to get people to eat their vegetables!”

As it happens, before making the album, Mark had fetched up in London with little intention of working. Indeed, he was pretty much on vacation.

“My wife [Emmy & Golden Globe winning actor, Julia Garner] was doing a movie in London,” he explains. “We had just come out of the pandemic and hadn’t travelled for a couple years. I had nothing to do, so I was like, ‘I’ll go over to London with you’. I called Paul Epworth, the producer, a week before heading out – we’ve kept in touch over the years as friends, but we hadn’t made music together since Supermodel – and I was like, ‘Do you want to write something?’

“The first day, when I went by his studio, Jack Peñate came over as well. I’d never met Jack, but I’ve been a big fan of his for a long time, so I was excited to meet him. The three of us just grabbed instruments and started making some noise. We wrote a song that ended up becoming the title track, 'Paradise State Of Mind'. That was a big moment for me, because I was so in my head, man. Over the pandemic, I almost retired, I almost stepped away from everything. It was just like, ‘You know what? This is too much’. Also, I was enjoying my life. I was at home with my wife and my dog, I got into woodworking.”

Why throw yourself back into the circus, right?

“Yeah,” nods Mark. “It was a real conversation I had to have with myself. But then I connected with Paul and Jack, who are real artists – they’re spiritual, philosophical guys. Just being around them, I started to feel free again, to be able to write whatever I was feeling. I was reminded that’s what art is for. It’s supposed to be a safe place to express anything you want, and that’s really important for the culture.

“I camped out in The Church, (Paul’s Crouch End studio, for two months. I wrote a bunch of songs over there in Studio B, and then came to EastWest Studios and the Pet Sounds room.”

That’s the old haunt of The Wrecking Crew, isn’t it?

“Yeah,” says Mark. “They haven’t changed anything, the floors are all original. When I would walk in there, I would just think about Hal Blaine dragging his drum kit across the floor. You know, Carol Kaye, all those legends – you can feel them in the room. So, it was cool to camp out there and use all those original chambers that were on Pet Sounds. Hearing that reverb, you’re like, ‘Oh, yep, there’s that sound!’”

I recall Foster The People rocking The Cosby Stage at Electric Picnic in 2011 – any chance of an Irish date soon?

“You were there?” laughs Mark. “Is the Picnic still happening? We haven’t played in Ireland in a long time and I’ve been dying to get back. So, I hope so. We’ll be playing some shows, probably later this year, and definitely in 2025 we’ll be on tour.”

• Paradise State Of Mind is out now.