Bad Suns have been operating on two sides of an internal divide. On “Communicating,” the brisk lead single from their fifth studio album Accelerator, frontman Christo Bowman describes it succinctly: “Body and mind on separate vacations.” Physically, they’ve been soaking up the California sun, basking in the warmth of bright indie pop grooves. Though mentally, the Los Angeles band has been wandering for the past few years — not aimlessly, but in pursuit of a path forward. It’s just been taking a while to find it.
On "Patience," a deep cut from 2016's Disappear Here they set out in the right direction. “I've been writing my thoughts down to clear my mind/To try and figure out my brain/To confront and set aside my pain,” Bowman sang. “I'm approaching a breakthrough/I'm happy now/Though, satisfaction comes and goes/While the saddest facts, they cling like shadows.” The hopeful confrontations continued, packaged in uncertain sonic swings on 2019’s Mystic Truth that were offset by guarded return-to-form resets on 2022’s Apocalypse Whenever.
But dressing the thoughts up differently didn’t move the process along much. The breakthroughs never really stuck and they always seemed to get turned back around — either too proud to admit they’d been going the wrong way until they were far off course, or too timorous in acknowledging what actually revealed itself when everything was laid out. The cracks showed, anyway. In 2022, guitarist Ray Libby exited the band after 10 years, leaving Bad Suns to recalibrate as a trio. On Accelerator, they fill the gap between mind and body with their most compelling music in nearly a decade.
Bad Suns hit the ground running on “Ready to Take Flight,” a skittering hyperpop-influenced track that narrowly escapes a dead end. “After the show, I wept an ocean/In a hotel room, planning to die,” Bowman sings. “Shut my eyes, fantasized/Until my loved ones crossed my mind/My whole plan unraveled right then in a moment.” Later in the song, he finds out he’s going to be a father. His new reality raises the stakes across the record, paired with clear-eyed revelations and reflections fueled by the frontman’s newfound sobriety.
Bowman pours the past down the drain across Accelerator, reminiscing on the subdued ballad “Postcard,” where he laments, “Maybe you’re right/I was wrong/To think you were the one/You were the one good thing about me.” Flashes of past relationships flicker through hazy synths of “Mystery Girl” and “What’s Best for You Ain’t Me,” too. But the pulsating “Back to Zero” learns from every past mistake and makes them count. “Every night I plan my escape/Nothing ever works out/The way I thought it would,” Bowman admits. “Seek clarity in therapy/Edit out what might sound insane/I don’t think that it works this way.”
Accelerator excels when Bad Suns settle into the discomfort of self-confrontation. “Why Am I Like This?” confesses, “When I see myself in photographs/I wish I looked another way/All of my favorite stories/Are the ones in which I almost die,” though a moment later, Bowman turns it around: “Lucky I’m alive today.” His real-time rewiring gives way to the earnest, if at times overwrought, “Wait in the Car,” and the bouncing closer “Do the Twist of Fate.” As a three-piece, the band cushions their latest creations with percussive highlights. “Just Like Magic,” in particular, crescendos into an explosive bridge that channels the relentless tempo of Nineties house classics and emphasizes drummer Miles Morris’ expansive range.
It’s been too long since Bad Suns sounded like they were having this much fun. Accelerator makes up for lost time, but doesn’t mourn the momentary misdirection. “What goes up must come down/I lost my balance in the clouds,” Bowman sings on the buoyant opener “Slow Karma,” a roadmap for the years and albums to come. “I’ll turn my luck back around/Oh, I’m still searching for some higher ground.”
