Bad Suns w/ Joe P

Bad Suns are embracing everything that’s possible. On their joyous fifth album, fittingly titled Accelerator, the Los Angeles trio are taking stock of everything they’ve been through together as a band and pushing into a bright future with a renewed sense of purpose.

Together since 2012, Christo Bowman (vocals/guitar), Gavin Bennett (bass) and Miles Morris (drums) started playing together as teenagers and went viral almost immediately with their magnetic blend of indie-rock and ‘80s synth sheen. After four hit albums, the trio reached a point where they needed to recalibrate and recenter if they wanted to continue. Recording their exuberant 2023 EP Infinite Joy was a cleansing experience that recalibrated Bad Suns and set them on a thrilling path forward into making Accelerator, which comprises 12 new tracks brimming with dance-pop hooks and poignant lessons learned.   

“We saw the Infinite Joy EP as a new beginning for the band. I felt this yearning once again,” reflects Christo Bowman. “Accelerator being our fifth album, our first studio album as a trio, and the first album of my 30s, we knew that this was going to be really important. We didn’t want to take that lightly. We asked ourselves, how do we live up to the occasion? We saw this album as a mountain we wanted to climb.”

In planning their elevation, Bad Suns reconnected with their go-to producer Eric Palmquist (Tate McRae, Half Alive), who also helmed their 2014 debut Language & Perspective, plus follow-ups Disappear Here (2016) and Apocalypse Whenever (2022). Going into recording Accelerator, Eric encouraged Bad Suns to channel their sense of renewal into an energetic sonic direction they’d tapped into before, but never quite to this extent. “One of the first times we sat down with Eric, we were talking about what we’d all been vibing with. He said point blank, ‘It would be really cool to mess around with some ‘90s house-inspired music. Right away, the light bulb went off for me. I’d wanted to push in that direction forever.”

While tracks like the previously released “Communicating,” anthemic opener “Slow Karma,” the pulsing “Why Am I Like This,” and the shimmering club cut “Just Like Magic” reveal a riveting pop turn for the band, Accelerator is still steeped in the original DNA that made Bad Suns a feel-good viral sensation with early hits like “Cardiac Arrest.” The rushing pop melodies mirror Accelerator’s title, but its lyrics are filled with stop-and-think moments where Christo surveys his past actions and makes the intentional choice to embrace personal growth and impending fatherhood.

“My 20s were a challenging time with a lot of peaks and a lot of valleys,” he says. “There’s a lot of joy, a lot of mistakes. This album is ultimately about finding the strength within yourself to assess the damage that’s been done and make the changes that you need to in order to take control of your own life, kind of reckoning with the fact that you can’t control the external circumstances. I can’t control the world around me, but I can control the way that I react to the events taking place and the way that I move through the world.”

The hook-packed gem “Slow Karma” acts as Christo’s mission statement for Accelerator. An intimate and cathartic track, the album opener finds Christo at a personal and professional crossroads as he confronts old habits and makes the decision to become sober. “I was at a point in my life where it was becoming abundantly clear to me that I needed to make some changes in order to progress and live the life that I really wanted,” Christo says. “Getting sober is really hard, but then it becomes the easiest thing in the world. ‘Slow Karma’ is about accepting that this is gonna be difficult. And I don’t know exactly what’s ahead, but I know this is the direction I’m supposed to be moving down.”

The sparkling “Mystery Girl” signifies another crossroads as Christo, in a diaristic stream of consciousness, remembers his coming-of-age years while facing the inertia of fatherhood. “There’s this beautiful new chapter in my life unfolding, and there’s mixed emotions that come with it,” he says. “This is a song about my teenage years, past relationships and experiences, and being a young person who is ultimately just looking for love.”

Christo is equally unafraid to imagine what would have happened had he not made a series of positive changes. On the urgent, electropop banger “Back To Zero,” the singer envisions an alternate reality without Bad Suns or his wife and partner of 13 years and arrives at a place of heart-bursting gratitude for everything he has and the future that lies ahead.

“I didn’t want this record to be too self-help-oriented, but I did want every song, one way or another, to relate some wisdom I’ve gained,” Christo says. “By imagining myself alone in an apartment, my wife long gone — my life very easily could have looked like that. I’ve learned how important it is, as the lyrics say, to ‘find the beauty in what’s painful,’ and love every moment for what it is.”

As Bad Suns move into their latest era, one filled with exciting personal and professional milestones, they’ve never been more harmoniously aligned. “While making this album, I turned 30, I got married, I found out I was having a kid. Going to the studio every day and being in the room with the guys, I had this sense that I’m going to look back and know that was probably one of the best times of my life.”