Foster The People – Houdini

Mophonics sketch, Torches fifth single

Mark Foster wrote Houdini while working as a commercial jingle writer at Mophonics in Venice, California. On a take-your-girlfriend-to-work day he built a drum beat and vocal sample in about ten minutes, then returned days later to add piano chords. He later called that girlfriend a useful muse. The finished track appears on Foster The People’s debut album Torches, released 23 May 2011 by Startime International and Columbia. Rich Costey and Foster share production; Mark Pontius plays drums, Cubbie Fink bass. Foster handles vocals, piano, synthesizer, and programming. The song was first offered as a UK promotional download on 1 April 2011, then issued as the album’s fifth single to US alternative radio on 15 May 2012.

On Torches the cut sits after the brighter early singles built around Pumped Up Kicks. What you hear is a mid-speed dance pulse, clipped drums, and Foster’s voice moving between verse talk and a larger chorus. Synths and piano share the midrange; the bass stays simple enough for radio. At about three minutes twenty it leaves space for the hook without a long middle eight. Costey’s mix keeps the demo energy while giving the drums and vocals the punch of a finished Columbia master.

Chart peaks were modest next to Pumped Up Kicks: No. 37 on US Alternative Airplay, No. 21 on Canada Rock, No. 70 on Japan’s Hot 100, and a brief Dutch Single Top 100 entry at No. 98. Syncs carried it further: the video games SSX and Sackboy: A Big Adventure, the film LOL, and TV placements on Gossip Girl, Awkward, and Suits. An official video and a live Solana Beach take kept the track visible after the debut tour cycle.