Foster the People: Paradise State of Mind (translucent green vinyl) [ATLANTIC]

Why you'll love it

This pressing is on translucent green vinyl. It's the band's first album in seven years and their first on Atlantic, and Metacritic critics gave it a score of 75.

This edition

• Translucent green vinyl
• Pressed in the USA

About the album

Most people met Foster the People through one enormous whistle-along single, then waited. When Mark Foster and company finally came back, they skipped straight past indie pop and landed somewhere around 1978, with disco strings, funk bass, gospel choirs and a little jazz in the chords.

The idea was to set the upheaval of the early 2020s against the late 70s, another restless era that danced its way through. "Lost in Space" is pure mirror-ball disco, "Take Me Back" bounces, "Chasing Low Vibrations" glides, and the closing "A Diamond to Be Born" opens up wide. "Let Go" is Foster at his most personal, and the cover is an oil painting by Matt Hansel. Between albums the band had kept their hand in with the EP In the Darkest of Nights, Let the Birds Sing and a string of singles, and the record covers a lot of musical ground.

It debuted at No. 8 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart, and critics singled out the production for praise. The cover painting looks rather good propped up on the shelf too, which is more than can be said for the disco ball in our back room.

Also at Kops: more Foster the People on vinyl · browse Alternative

Tracklist

Listen

On Atlantic, the 2024 album.