Bad Suns – release new album ‘ Accelerator + focus track ‘ Back To Zero’

“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,” says Christo Bowman, frontman and guitarist of California indie-pop trio, Bad Suns. Established in 2012 alongside Gavin Bennett (bass) and Miles Morris (drums), they started making music together as teenagers and went viral almost immediately with their magnetic blend of indie-rock and ‘80s synth sheen. After four hit albums and over ten years of collective growth, their latest record Accelerator arrives today via Epitaph Records.

On the urgent, electropop banger Back To Zero, Bowman envisions an alternate reality without Bad Suns or his wife and partner of 13 years, arriving at a place of heart-bursting gratitude for the future that lies ahead. “By imagining myself alone in an apartment, my wife long gone — my life very easily could have looked like that,” he explains. “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.”

“We saw the Infinite Joy EP as a new beginning for the band. I felt this yearning once again,” he reflects on the journey that led Bad Suns to this moment. “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 latest project, the band 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.” 

The first preview of Accelerator was ushered in with the grooving single Communicating, hitting #19 on the alternative rock charts and recently named one of Rolling Stone’s Best Songs Of The Year So Far. Anthemic opener Slow Karma revealed a riveting pop turn for the band, showing how Accelerator is still steeped in the original DNA that made Bad Suns a feel-good viral sensation with early hits like Cardiac Arrest. Though the rushing pop melodies may mirror Accelerator’s title, 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,” the singer muses. “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.” 

ACCELERATOR  OUT NOW VIA EPITAPH