Kero Kero Bonito - Time 'n' Place

Kero Kero Bonito
Time 'n' Place
2018
Spotify

Kero Kero Bonito typically make sugary sweet pop music. Their last album Bonito Generation  utilized drum machines and bright ass synths to make this version of punk rock brat pop. They are somewhat similar to HOLYCHILD, but on this new surprise album they are taking a hard left turn. Amonsgst the pretty and distant vocal of Sarah Perry are their standard bright pop instrumentation, however this time something darker, and something new emerges. We start to see that behind those pop songs are some real grit and rage. Elements of shoegaze and punk bust down the door from the very first track adding weight and heft to the bands compositions. There is a much more well rounded feel to this music than their other stuff, not saying that the other records weren't great as well they just weren't THIS. The hazy feel permeates every inch of the album, that idea of not really having a place in the world but trying to find it anyway. "Make Believe" almost sounds like this blend between Yumi Zouma with a bit more distorted synths that add this edge to the music. Sarah Perry's delivery which is sort of one note fits so well with this music, it acts as a solid through line and allows the track to explore so many different places. The record was released as a surprise after signing a deal with PolyVinly only two weeks earlier. Yet this kind of glacial shift in style had to be brewing for awhile, they have gone from a group using exclusively bleeps and bloops to a real band band playing live instruments, and it fucking cooks.

This is one of those records that gets better and better as it unfolds. It shift and changes crafting songs that are complex, yet so simple. There is a ton going on with each song, so many little ad libs and goofy noises, but they all work to create the cluttered mess that is Time 'n' Place. On "Only Acting" goes into the exhaustive nature of keeping up a social media presence, something nearly anyone can relate to, while at other times she peers through her hazy view of growing up and how it effects her today. "Sometimes" opens with the lines: "Sometimes, life gets you down /But you can turn it all around /The raindrops keep falling, you're soaking to the bone /And you can't see for the clouds" and ends with " But on your boots you can bet /That everybody gets the blues sometimes" a pretty damn grown up idea for anyone who has ever felt down. The amazing thing about this record is that in shifting towards a more "band" feel they haven't lost any of the elements that made them so vivid and bright to begin with. Time 'n' Place  is truly a one of a kind record and you need to get on this ASAP.

9.1 out of 10