During the time Foster The People were signed to Columbia Records, they dropped “Sacred Hearts Club” on July 21st, 2017. The release of this record comes shortly after the band shared a three-track EP called “III” in April. I've already published an article detailing everything I loved about SHC, however, I didn't touch on the extra vocalist featured on “Static Space Lovers” which I will do right now. Without further ado, let's deep dive into this song.
“Static Space Lovers” is a duet between Mark Foster and Jena Malone. Although you may recognize her from such films as The Hunger Games and Donnie Darko, Malone also releases music both independently and in her band The Shoe. They, along with Isom Innis, wrote the track in one night, according to Foster.
“Isom and Jena Malone started it from the ground up one evening over a bottle of Mezcal. She wrote the first verse and sang it. She and I wrote it together and laid it in,"
“And then a year and a half later when the rest of the record was coming together, I wrote and did the vocals to the second verse and finished it.
It was one of those moments where spirit is just in the room. And to be honest, I'd attribute a lot of that to the cosmic pixie dust that seems to follow Jena wherever she goes.”
The frontman had some difficulties naming what would be their third and final record with the label, however, it was Malone who suggested “Sacred Hearts Club” during a solo journey.
“We were both in Myanmar traveling solo on a pilgrimage of sorts. There was one day that overlapped where we were in the same place at the same time. We took a boat down this river in Inle Lake as far as it would go. Through ancient villages, jungles and rice fields. We were talking about the ethereal quality that certain people have, that causes them to look at life through a different lens.
“People like DaVinci, Patti Smith, Hunter S. Thompson, Dali and Kubrick. People that didn't pay attention to societal norms and always challenged the boundaries put on them. People wanted to touch, taste, smell, see and hear everything the world has to offer in excess. She called it the Sacred Hearts Club. It became my mantra going into recording this album.”
The dichotomy of somber lyrics about the deterioration of a relationship against the backdrop of happy summer music is in typical Foster The People fashion, like many of the band's songs. Stuff like this is one of my favorite things about SHC: sonically satisfying instrumentation alongside lyrics we all love. I own several copies of this record, including one on vinyl. Be sure to take another listen to “Sacred Hearts Club” after reading this article.