You may think time travel is only the stuff of sci-fi novels and films starring Jake Gyllenhaal, but the human brain has its own way of manipulating time. Episodic memory allows us to recall the setting of a memory, the contextual shell for that moment in life. The brain can resurrect a past that has seemingly seeped its way into the walls of spaces like an old school or bedroom. A bricks-and-mortar embodiment of a person’s youth, a childhood home can be an episodic jackpot. Last year, Kero Kero Bonito singer Sarah Midori Perry learned this the hard way when her suburban home on Japan’s Hokkaido island was demolished. That personal casualty ripples through her London trio’s sophomore album, Time ‘n’ Place, where memorial phantoms flow through a mix of upbeat rhythms and opalescent synths. “It’s funny how physical us humans are,” Perry coyly sings.
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. The members have since recast themselves with typical band roles—guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, augmenting their sequencers and synthesizers. Time ‘n’ Place is much more turbulent than its predecessor, even if it’s more conceptually grounded. “Only Acting,” for instance, leads with a drum pad beat and synths that writhe like Silly String. What begins as spunky dance-pop soon bursts into distortion-heavy rock, reflecting the performance anxiety of Perry’s lyrics. “I thought I was only acting/But I felt exactly like it was all for real,” she chimes. The song deteriorates into laser beam synths and jagged guitar squeals, Perry roaring as though possessed. Everything returns to chipper normalcy for one verse, before the song skips again and again like a scuffed CD.
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. KKB disrupt songs with surprising video game melodies and distortion bombs wired with manipulated vocals. Closer “Rest Stop” ends with Perry’s voice wrapped in uneasy static, ominous groans and machine gun sounds skittering in the distance. “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. The secret haunts the album’s end; maybe there wasn’t enough time, or maybe her own memory is starting to waste away.
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. 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”). These songs reach for the braid of hope that you can make your own reality.
The conceptual infrastructure of Time ‘n’ Place is often captivating. 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 content is memorable, but the melodies aren’t. 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.
