Sacred Hearts Club

Foster the People began promoting new music following extensive touring in support of their second studio album, Supermodel (2014), in late 2016. During the recording sessions, Foster described waking up each day and witnessing tragedies, traumatic events and political scandals in the news; citing that the band sought to create an album of joy amidst the chaos of current events. The band performed three brand new songs, entitled "Pay the Man", "Lotus Eater", and "Doing It for the Money", at Rocking the Daisies Music Festival, announcing that they would release their third studio album. On April 5, 2017, the band announced a headlining summer tour in North America in support of the album.

The band released the three-track III (EP) on April 27, 2017. It is composed of three brand new tracks, "Pay the Man", "Doing It for the Money", and "SHC", all of which appear on Sacred Hearts Club. Each song was accompanied with a visual music video uploaded on the band's official Vevo channel. Sacred Hearts Club was formally announced on June 13, 2017, with the premiere of an online short documentary revealing the album's title and release date.[1]

The album spawned three singles: "Doing It for the Money", released on April 21, 2017; "Loyal Like Sid & Nancy", released as the second single on June 30, 2017; and "Sit Next to Me", released on July 24, 2017, as the third single.[2]

In the band's online short documentary titled Sacred Hearts Club (the beginning), it was revealed that the album would "feature '60s-inspired sounds and a psychedelic influence".[3] The genres of the songs primarily range from soul, R&B, dance, electronic, to psychedelia. The composition of the album included programmed beats sampled from recordings of Pontius' drumming during live performances in 2013,[4] also incorporating elements from the band's jam sessions.[5] Foster has stated that the album was compiled from two distinct records' worth of material, one with a psychedelic/surf rock focus, and one within the genre of hip-hop.[6]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	5.8/10[7]
Metacritic	56/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
The A.V. Club	C−[10]
Evening Standard	[11]
The Irish Times	[12]
The New Zealand Herald	[13]
Newsday	B+[14]
Paste	7.4/10[15]
Pitchfork	5.5/10[16]
Q	[17]
Uncut	6/10[18]

Sacred Hearts Club received mixed to positive reviews from critics, attaining a Metacritic score of 56 based on nine reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[8] The album was praised for its experimentation, while being criticized for a lack of consistency. Critics also noted a failure to recapture the band's old sound, often noting their breakthrough hit "Pumped Up Kicks" in reference. Numerous critics also praised the lyrical content and musical departure from their two previous albums.

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a co-producer.
• ^{^[b]} signifies an additional producer.
• "Orange Dream" contains a sample of "Prelude", as performed by Parliament.[19][20]

Foster the People

• Mark Foster – vocals, synthesizer (tracks 1–5, 7–12); programming (tracks 1, 4, 10, 12), guitar (tracks 1, 3–5, 7–9, 11), bass (tracks 1, 3–5, 7–9), piano (tracks 2, 7, 10), tubular bells (tracks 2, 5), bass synth (tracks 2, 4), percussion (track 5), celeste (track 7), Omnichord (tracks 8, 9)
• Mark Pontius – drums (tracks 1, 4), percussion (track 7)
• Isom Innis – drum programming (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 12), programming (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 10, 12), drums (tracks 1, 2, 4–10), percussion (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 10), synthesizer (tracks 2, 4–7, 10, 12), bass (track 6), piano, backing vocals (track 12)
• Sean Cimino – guitar (tracks 4, 5, 7, 8)

Additional personnel