Indie-Pop Mainstays Bad Suns Announce New Album 'Accelerator'
Today, indie-pop mainstays Bad Suns announce plans to release their new album ' Accelerator ' out on August 8th via Epitaph Records. More than a decade after their debut, on their joyous fifth album 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.
Bad Suns also share the hook-packed gem 'Slow Karma' which doubles as frontman Christo Bowman'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 a life-changing decision.
'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 quickly becomes the most rewarding 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. 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.'
Since 2012, Christo Bowman (vocals/guitar), Gavin Bennett (bass) and Miles Morris (drums) 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, 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 served as fuel for 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.'
Following the lead of previously released track 'Communicating' (currently #30 on the alternative rock charts), anthemic opener 'Slow Karma' reveals 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.' The rushing pop melodies may 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.'
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,' the frontman muses. '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.'
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