Foster the People Come of Age, Roll With the Punches in New Video
In their new video for 'Coming of Age,' Foster the People confront maturity with a series of scenes that may or may not bring back some painful and awkward high-school memories. There's even a sexy older woman whose mere presence makes a little kid's ice cream cone slip limply from his hand.
The nearly five-minute clip juggles images of a boxer, schoolyard bullies, meditative motorcycle rides and some dude dressed like a duck mascot. We think it's trying to tell us something about the two main characters and their ambitions (or lack of ambition, in one case). It's kinda hard to tell with all the camera jumps between stories. Plus, there's the band footage zipping in and out of the picture.
Oh, and brooding. There's lots and lots of brooding, especially from frontman Mark Foster, who's tighty-whitey T-shirt and hanging bangs pretty much skirt the line between indie cool and high-school reject.
The song itself sounds a lot like something the '90s group Electronic -- a brief collaboration between New Order and Pet Shop Boys members -- would have recorded: plenty of synths, swooping choruses and hushed, tentative vocals. Plus, Foster tries out a new falsetto at song's end that will either leave you longing for some Beach Boys or earplugs.
"I'm too bruised to fight," Foster sings at one point, tying together several of the video's scenes. But we're guessing things won't get too drastic, considering how their breakthrough hit 'Pumped Up Kicks' pissed off a lot of people after the Sandy Hook shooting in December 2012.
'Coming of Age' -- the first single from Foster the People's second album, 'Supermodel,' which comes out on March 14 -- is currently inching its way up the alternative Top 10 chart.