Jacobs, which delicately unfolds the fictional story in a visual format. The track is also accompanied by a beautifully animated video illustrated by Dan W. The song was written pre-COVID, but its themes of isolation remain as relevant as ever. The EP opens with “The Princess and the Clock,” a colorful and fast-paced song that, according to the band, details the kidnapping, imprisonment, and idolization of a young explorer who dreams of escape. Like Civilisation I, the three-track EP was entirely produced and recorded in Lobban’s bedroom, and, as stated by Polyvinyl Records, each song progresses through the different tenses of past, present, and future. The trio, consisting of Sarah Midori Perry (Sarah Bonito), Gus Lobban, and Jamie Bulled are known for their genre-bending sound that mixes J-pop, video-game-esque effects, and silky, youthful vocals. The London-based art-pop band’s most recent EP, Civilisation II -a sequel to their preceding Civilisation I EP, which came out in September 2019- bursts with pent-up energy.
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Still, stronger and more diverse than their debut, Time ‘n’ Place aspirationally conjures a world that won’t be so easy to detest, one where magic and memory intertwine.Listening to the work of certain artists scratches the pandemic-induced itch to dash to the club and dance with strangers- Kero Kero Bonito is one of them. The content is memorable, but the melodies aren’t. But more often than not, the songs don’t hold up their end of the bargain, with structures that do little to emphasize the smarts of the ideas themselves. The conceptual infrastructure of Time ‘n’ Place is often captivating. These songs reach for the braid of hope that you can make your own reality. When they aren’t looking for escape on tracks like “Outside” and “Flyway,” KKB transform their current world, whether perceiving a garbage dump as a sacred communal watering hole (“Dump”) or exploring the lucid dream world where your surroundings bend to your will (“Make Believe”). Kero Kero Bonito bounce between bouts of chaos and the absolute cheeriness of pure pop, a sensation that suggests they are tinkering with those wild old memories, trying to reconcile them with reality. The secret haunts the album’s end maybe there wasn’t enough time, or maybe her own memory is starting to waste away. “When we walk among the clouds/Hold your neighbor close/As the trumpets echo ’round/You don’t want to be-,” she sings, cut off before she can divulge her conclusion. Closer “Rest Stop” ends with Perry’s voice wrapped in uneasy static, ominous groans and machine gun sounds skittering in the distance. KKB disrupt songs with surprising video game melodies and distortion bombs wired with manipulated vocals.
CIVILIZATION II KERO KERO BONITO CRACK
The most exciting moments on Time ‘n’ Place come when the production takes these sorts of left turns, when the recordings fizzle or crack with distortion as though an alternate reality were coming into focus. Everything returns to chipper normalcy for one verse, before the song skips again and again like a scuffed CD.
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The song deteriorates into laser beam synths and jagged guitar squeals, Perry roaring as though possessed. “I thought I was only acting/But I felt exactly like it was all for real,” she chimes. What begins as spunky dance-pop soon bursts into distortion-heavy rock, reflecting the performance anxiety of Perry’s lyrics. “ Only Acting,” for instance, leads with a drum pad beat and synths that writhe like Silly String. Time ‘n’ Place is much more turbulent than its predecessor, even if it’s more conceptually grounded. The members have since recast themselves with typical band roles-guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, augmenting their sequencers and synthesizers. Kero Kero Bonito broke out in 2016 with Bonito Generation, an album of synthpop so effervescent it felt like the sonic embodiment of watermelon Pop Rocks.