Torches is the debut studio album by American band Foster the People, released on May 23, 2011 by Startime International and Columbia Records. 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 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 ", and "Houdini", which had previously been released as a promotional single in the United Kingdom prior to the album's release. 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, Philippines, and Canada.
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, earning the band a booking at the South by Southwestmusic festival in March 2010, 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. 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, Tony Hoffer and Greg Kurstin to co-produce the record with Mark Foster.
Packaging
The cover artwork was designed by Young & Sick, a friend of Mark Foster's who was interested in doing illustrations for an album. The group's drummer Mark Pontius explained the origins of the artwork:
Promotion
"Call It What You Want" was also used in the soundtrack of the football video game by EA Sports, FIFA 12. Houdini appears in the soundtrack to SSX. The song "Don't Stop " is prominently featured in two Nissan commercials titled "Headroom" and "Legroom." The song was also used in the soundtrack of the racing gameForza Horizon. The music video for "Don't Stop " 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. Through the iTunes Store, the album is available with the bonus track "Broken Jaw". 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.
Critical reception
Torches received generally favorable reviews. According to review aggregator website Metacritic, it received an average critic score of 69 out of 100, based on 20 reviews. AllMusic described the album as a "catchy, electro-lite dance-pop that fits nicely next to such contemporaries as MGMT and Phoenix." Rolling Stone said, "their debut is genre-juggling, bedroom-dance-floor magic cut with moody-boy lyrics". 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..." Elton John also said that "Torches" was one of his favorites and one of the best albums of 2011. Blue Oyster Cult guitarist Buck Dharma stated on That Metal Show that Torches was one of his favorite new albums. 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.
Commercial performance
Torches debuted at number eight on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 33,000 copies in the first week. On April 28, 2014, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of a million copies in the United States.
