Torches (album)

Torches
Studio album by Foster the People
Released	May 23, 2011
Recorded	2010–11
Genre	Indie pop alternative dance neo-psychedelia[1]
Length	38:24
Label	Startime Columbia
Producer	Rich Costey Paul Epworth Mark Foster Tony Hoffer Greg Kurstin
Foster the People chronology
Foster the People (2011) Torches (2011) Supermodel (2014)
Singles from Torches
"Pumped Up Kicks" Released: September 14, 2010 "Helena Beat" Released: July 26, 2011[2] "Call It What You Want" Released: December 2, 2011[3] "Don't Stop (Color on the Walls)" Released: January 10, 2012[4] "Houdini" Released: May 15, 2012[5] Promotional singles "Broken Jaw" Released: 2012

Torches is the debut studio album by American indie pop band Foster the People. It was released on May 23, 2011, on Columbia Records and Startime International in the United States.

In 2010, the group parlayed the popularity of frontman Mark Foster's song "Pumped Up Kicks" into a record deal with Startime International and wrote the album to back up the song's popularity. "Pumped Up Kicks" proved to be a sleeper hit; after receiving significant airplay on modern rock stations, the song crossed-over onto contemporary hit radio and became one of 2011's most popular songs. Four additional singles were released from the album: "Helena Beat", "Call It What You Want", "Don't Stop (Color on the Walls)", and "Houdini", which had previously been released as a promotional single in the United Kingdom prior to the album's release.^[6][7][8]

Torches received generally favorable reviews from critics and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album. The record peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 in the US and number one on the ARIA Albums Chart in Australia. It has been certified platinum in Australia and the US,^[9][10] Philippines, and Canada.^[11]

Background and recording

Not long after the band formed, frontman Mark Foster wrote and recorded the song "Pumped Up Kicks" while working as a jingle writer at Mophonics. The song proved to be the band's breakthrough in 2010, going viral,^[12] earning the band a booking at the South by Southwest music festival in March 2010,^[13][14] and garnering attention from music industry professionals. Brent Kredel and Brett Williams were hired to co-manage the group and helped them obtain a record deal with Columbia Records imprint Startime International in May 2010.^[15]

After the record deal was finalized, Kredel said, "The focus was to stop everything and not work on any marketing or touring, but to make an album that backed up 'Pumped Up Kicks.'" To avoid the band becoming overexposed, Startime allowed the group to pace themselves and not rush an album that would cash in on the popularity of the song. Isaac Green of Startime said, "You can't control everything, but you can be meticulous about the music." From July to September 2010, the group wrote new material that would appear on Torches, and they chose Paul Epworth, Rich Costey, and Greg Kurstin to co-produce the record with Mark Foster.^[15]

Packaging

The cover artwork was designed by Young & Sick (formerly known as Japayork), a friend of Mark Foster who was interested in doing illustrations for an album.^[16][17] The group's drummer Mark Pontius explained the origins of the artwork:^[18]

We argued about that artwork forever. I think I was the only one who didn't like it. I love his artwork but I had a different image in my mind for the record cover. But I ended up being happy that I lost the fight because it ended up that the characters on the front became this whole world that we ended up including in our live show and on our merch and our website.

Promotion

"Call It What You Want" was also used in the soundtrack of the video game FIFA 12. Houdini appears in the soundtrack to SSX. The song "Don't Stop (Color on the Walls)" is prominently featured in two Nissan commercials titled "Headroom" and "Legroom." ^[19][20] The song was also used in the soundtrack of the racing game Forza Horizon. The music video for "Don't Stop (Color on the Walls)" was featured in stereoscopic 3D on the Nintendo 3DS's application Nintendo Video. Foster the People appeared as the musical guest on the October 8, 2011 episode of Saturday Night Live, playing "Pumped Up Kicks" and "Houdini". Kenny G appeared as a guest performer on the latter song.^[21][22]

Through the iTunes Store, the album is available with the bonus track "Broken Jaw" (which was released as a Record Store Day single limited to 1,000 copies). Best Buy features a CD with the bonus tracks "Love" and "Chin Music for the Unsuspecting Hero". Certain independent record stores included free remix EPs with the purchase of CD or vinyl.^[23]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	69/100[24]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[25]
Austin Chronicle	[26]
Entertainment Weekly	(B)[27]
The Guardian	[28]
Los Angeles Times	[29]
NME	(7/10)[30]
Pitchfork Media	(6.2/10)[31]
Q	[32]
Rolling Stone	[33]
Spin	(7/10)[34]

Critical reception

Torches has received generally favorable reviews. According to review aggregator website Metacritic, it has received an average critic score of 69/100, based on 20 reviews.^[24] Allmusic described the album as a "catchy, electro-lite dance-pop that fits nicely next to such contemporaries as MGMT and Phoenix."^[25] Rolling Stone said, "their debut is genre-juggling, bedroom-dance-floor magic cut with moody-boy lyrics".^[33] U2 guitarist The Edge singled Torches out as one of his favorite records, calling it "a very interesting new album. Very 21st century pop, but it's beautifully made and thrilling. You see, we're always interested in the new thing..."^[35] Elton John also said that "Torches" was one of his favorites and one of the best albums of 2011.

The album was nominated for the 2012 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, while "Pumped Up Kicks" received a nomination for Grammy Award for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.^[36]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, and sold 33,000 copies in the first week.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Mark Foster, all music composed by Foster, except where noted.

Personnel

Foster the People

• Mark Foster - lead vocals, piano, guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, programming, percussion, wurlitzer, vibraphone, glockenspiel
• Cubbie Fink - bass guitar, backing vocals
• Mark Pontius - drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Paul Epworth - programming, keyboards, percussion (tracks 3 and 8)
• Greg Kurstin - programming (tracks 1, 5, 9 and 10), synthesizer (track 1)
• Sean Cimino - guitar (track 5)
• Gary Grant - trumpet (track 7)
• Zach Heiligman - programming (track 9)

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2011–12) Peak position Australian Albums Chart[37] 1 Austrian Albums Chart[38] 44 Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[39] 69 Belgian Alternative Albums Chart (Flanders)[39] 32 Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[40] 99 Belgian Heatseekers Albums Chart (Wallonia)[40] 1 Canadian Albums Chart[41] 7 Dutch Albums Chart[42] 53 French Albums Chart[43] 29 German Albums Chart[39] 87 Irish Albums Chart[44] 13 Japanese Albums Chart[45] 49 Mexican Albums Chart[46] 30 New Zealand Albums Chart[47] 18 Polish Albums Chart[48] 47 South Korean International Albums Chart[49] 66 Swiss Albums Chart[50] 49 UK Albums Chart[51] 12 US Billboard 200[41] 8 US Billboard Rock Albums[41] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2011) Position Australian Albums Chart[52] 35 Canadian Albums Chart[53] 42 US Billboard 200[54] 55 US Rock Albums[55] 8 Chart (2012) Position Australian Albums Chart[56] 35 Mexican Albums Chart[57] 76 US Billboard 200[58] 61 US Rock Albums[59] 18 Certifications Region Certification Australia Platinum[60] Canada Platinum[61] France Gold[62] Poland Gold[63] United States Platinum[64]

References