Foster the People will release their long-awaited fourth studio album, Paradise State of Mind, Aug. 16 via Atlantic Records. The band, comprised of Mark Foster and Isom Innis, previewed the LP with nostalgic single “Lost in Space,” their first new music in three years and first release for Atlantic. The duo produced the song, which features album art by Brooklyn artist Matt Hansel.
“The record started as a case study of the late ’70s crossover between disco, funk, gospel, jazz, and all those sounds,” Foster explained in a statement. “It was such a beautiful moment in time, when these different styles of music were cross-referencing each other – artists like Nile Rogers and Chic, the Tom Tom Club and Giorgio Moroder. I wanted to dive into that and figure out what they were doing.”
He continued, “I was also thinking about how that era has musical and social parallels to the time that we’re in now, with the giant recession in the Seventies, the political turmoil post-Vietnam, and other major tensions. But then you see these expressions of joy happening through music, and I started thinking about joy as an act of defiance.”
Foster the People’s last album, Sacred Hearts Club, arrived in 2017. The group subsequently released a series of stand-alone singles along with an EP, In the Darkest of Nights, Let the Birds Sing, in 2020. In 2021, Foster The People celebrated the tenth
anniversary of their LP Torcheswith an extended deluxe edition, Torches X, along with a series of live shows streamed around the world.
The band will perform at Austin City Limits Music Festival, set for Oct. 4-6 and 11-13.