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Foster the People’s new album originated from frontman Mark Foster’s trip to London

Foster the People’s new album was inspired by a trip to London.

The ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ band’s latest record ‘Paradise State of Mind’ releases on Friday (16.08.24) and frontman Mark Foster described how the record stemmed from an impromptu studio session in the UK capital with Adele’s producer Paul Epworth and singer-songwriter Jack Penate.

Mark is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column as saying: “He brought Jack Penate over, who I’m a huge fan of. And the three of us started a song and finished a song. With no intention of going in there and actually doing this.

“Completely organic and just having fun. And for me, it was therapeutic, just to be in the room with Paul and Jack, who are very special people.

“For them to kind of emote that to me, helped me to kind of come out of my shell and we ended up writing a song that ended up becoming the title track to our new record.

“I look at that as day one of making the new record. Then I camped out in the studio for two-and-a-half months.”

Foster the People’s debut album ‘Torches’ proved successful when it was released in 2011 and Mark felt that music “wasn’t going to happen” for him beforehand.

The 40-year-old musician told The Line of Best Fit magazine: “I can remember the feeling I had when I was writing ‘Torches’.

“I was alone in a tiny little studio and I was just exploring, I was just having fun. I had been in LA for about eight years at that point, working all sorts of random jobs, grinding, barely paying rent. And I was like, basically 26 because I moved to LA when I was 18. And in a lot of ways, I kind of felt like my time had passed, and that it wasn’t going to happen for me.”