New York-based JOVM mainstays A Place to Bury Strangers — currently Oliver Ackermann (vocals, guitar), John Fedowitz (bass) and Sandra Fedowitz (drums) — released their seventh album Synthesizer last year.
While Synthesizer is the album’s title, it’s also a physical entity, a synthesizer specifically made for the album — and a synthesizer that you too, can own (in part), if you buy the record on vinyl. The album’s cover art doubles as a circuit board and functional synth for curious and enterprising fans. “It’s pretty messed up, chaotic. But it feels really human,” the band’s Oliver Ackermann says.
In an era of making music where so little is DIY and so much is left up to AI, never setting foot in a practice room or a home studio, making something that feels deliberately chaotic, messy, and human, is entirely the point. The album celebrates sounds that are spontaneous and natural, the kind of music that can only come from collaboration and community.
The writing sessions for Synthesizer started in the band’s Queens studio, shortly after the release of 2022’s See Through You. The band’s new lineup which features Ackermann and his friends John and Sandra Fedowitz was especially inspiring for Ackermann. “It felt like a fresh new thing,” he says. “I wanted to write songs everyone was excited about playing.”
The album captures the band at a place of reinvention, where they take a carefully honed sound and approach and crack it wide open to gut its then reimagine it. And of course, to ever so slightly reinvent one’s sound, one must also built a new instrument — the synthesizer at the core of the album’s overall sound.
Synthesizer is arguably one of the band’s most live-sounding albums to date, accurately capturing the rawness and explosiveness of the band in a live setting, which is a fitting for a band that is best in a live setting, where the material takes on a new energy in the presence of a crowd. “We’re artists,” Ackermann says, “Going to shows and bringing that imperfect and beautiful DIY ethos is important.”
Album single “Bad Idea” is anchored around a simple yet hypnotically looping drum beat, woozily oscillating feedback-driven guitar lines. John Fedowitz’s plaintive yet punchy delivery weaves in and out of the stormy and soundscape, which helps to evoke the vacillating, almost nauseating unease of self-doubt.
“Bad Idea” showcases the raw creativity of the band’s bassist John Fedowitz. “He came to the studio with a simple looping drum beat, thinking he didn’t have any good ideas — thus, this song was his ‘bad idea,’” the band’s frontman Oliver Ackermann says. “We each penned some lines on paper, and he sang the ones that resonated. After a few instrumental passes, the recording was complete. The result is an innovative track born from spontaneous collaboration and a touch of self-doubt, turned into something uniquely captivating.”
Manchester, UK-based JOVM mainstays The KVB gave “Bad Idea” the remix treatment, turning the woozy chaos of the original into a brooding and hypnotic bit of coldwave that channels Depeche Mode, John Carpenter soundtracks and the like while being simultaneously headphone and dance floor friendly.
APTBS have long been known for being road warriors. They’re currently touring in Europe throughout April. In May, they return to North America with a handful of tour dates that include a May 30, 2025 ROCKS OFF Cruise show. Check out the tour dates below.
APTBS 2025 SYNTHESIZER TOUR
2025 Synthesizer European Tour
April 10 – Le 106 – Rouen, France
April 11 – QUAI M – La Roche-sur-yon, France
April 12 – L’Astrolabe – Orleans, France
April 13 – La Gaîté Lyrique – Paris, France
April 15 – Magasin 4 – Brussels, Belgium
April 16 – Trix – Antwerpen, Belgium
April 17 – Vera – Groningen, Netherlands
April 18 – Doornroosje – Nijmegen, Netherlands
April 21 – Plan B – Malmö, Sweden
April 22 – Parkteatret Scene – Oslo, Norway
April 24 – Kuudes Linja – Helsinki, Finland
April 25 – Paavli Kultuurivabrik – Tallinn, Estonia
April 26 – Tallinas Kvartāla Angārs – Rīga, Latvia
April 27 – Kultūros kompleksas SODAS2123 – Vilnius, Lithuania
April 29 – Klub Gwarek – Kraków, Poland
April 30 – fuchs2 Hlavní Město – Praha, Czechia
May 02 – ARCH Club – Live Stage – Athina, Greece
May 03 – Block 33 – Thessaloniki, Greece
2025 Synthesizer North American Tour
May 14 – Higher Ground – South Burlington, VT
May 15 – Bar Le Ritz PDB – Montreal, Canada
May 16 – Lee’s Palace – Toronto, Canada
May 17 – The Magic Bag – Ferndale, MI
May 18 – Grog Shop – Cleveland, OH
May 20 – Ace of Cups – Columbus, OH
May 21 – Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
May 22 – Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
May 23 – Headliners Music Hall – Louisville, KY
May 24 – The Blue Room – Nashville, TN
May 27 – Richmond Music Hall – Richmond, VA
May 28 – Ottobar – Baltimore, MD
May 29 – Ukrainian American Citizens’ Association (Ukie Club on Franklin) – Philadelphia, PA
May 30 – ROCKS OFF – New York, NY
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