''Time 'n' Place'' is the second studio album by British

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

band

Kero Kero Bonito Kero Kero Bonito (KKB) are a British indie pop band formed in London in 2013. The band consists of vocalist Sarah Midori Perry and producers and multi-instrumentalists Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled. Their musical style consists of indie pop, ele ...

, released on 1 October 2018 through

Polyvinyl Record Co Polyvinyl Record Co. is an American independent record label headquartered in Champaign, Illinois. The label has satellite offices in New York City, New York, Austin, Texas, Austin, and the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. Polyvinyl has put out ...

in North America and self-released worldwide. It is their first album released under Polyvinyl. Produced by the band's

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

Gus Lobban, it includes the previously released singles "Only Acting" (which was also featured on their '' TOTEP''), "Time Today", and "Make Believe". Musically, the album marks a stylistic departure from the band's previous

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

musical efforts, showcasing a mix of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such ...

experimental pop Experimental pop is pop music that cannot be categorized within traditional musical boundaries or which attempts to push elements of existing popular forms into new areas. It may incorporate experimental music, experimental techniques such as m ...

, and

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

musical styles.

Background

The album represents a departure from the band's sound showcased in their debut album, '' Bonito Generation''. During the tour of the album, the band played in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, where, in producer and drummer Gus Lobban's words, "the band experienced things we didn't even appreciate existed." After the tour, the band returned to their homes in the suburbs of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and when the band regrouped they decided to "do whatever the fuck we want." Moreover, after Lobban heard the album '' Beyond the Fleeting Gales'' by the

band

Crying Crying is the dropping of tears (or welling of tears in the eyes) in response to an emotional state or physical pain. Emotions that can lead to crying include sadness, anger, joy, and fear. Crying can also be caused by relief from a period ...

, he was inspired to start creating music with

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

and

guitars The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

again, as he felt that album seamlessly combined Kero Kero Bonito's various influences with modern indie rock. Jamie Bulled and Lobban began to play on the instruments they first learned music on (

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

and drums, respectively), and Sarah Perry was moved to write lyrics inspired by images recalling her childhood memories following her discovery that her childhood home in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

had been demolished. Thematically, the album touches on the loss of loved ones, physical objects and environments and

loss of innocence Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is prior to the sense of legal guilt and is a primal emotion connected with the sense of self. It is often confused as being the opp ...

. The song "Visiting Hours" features lyrics written by Lobban about his frequent visits to his hospitalised father, and "If I'd Known", written by Lobban and Bulled, was inspired by their frequent indecision. Lobban described the album as being inspired by the suburbs, as well as the physical rather than the virtual. Stylistically, as opposed to the rise of

trap music Trap music, also known simply as trap, is a subgenre of hip-hop music which originated in the Southern United States, with lyrical references to trap starting in 1991 but the modern sound of trap appearing in 1999. The genre gets its name from t ...

in suburban London, the album's sound is influenced by suburban guitar bands, such as My Bloody Valentine, CSS, Lush and Sweet Trip.

Critical reception

Tshepo Mokoena of ''

Noisey ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. It was founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, and its founders later launched the youth media company ...

'' lauded ''Time 'n' Place'', writing, "Somehow, Kero Kero Bonito have managed to squash so many textures of suburbia—

inertia Inertia is the natural tendency of objects in motion to stay in motion and objects at rest to stay at rest, unless a force causes the velocity to change. It is one of the fundamental principles in classical physics, and described by Isaac Newto ...

, comfort, a content sleepiness, something you want to resist because it's boring as hell—into a new album." She additionally stated that the album "feels like a rebirth" and "like an album about coming into your own as a person, without strictly being an album about

adolescence Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human Developmental biology, physical and psychological Human development (biology), development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age o ...

." Luke Pearson of ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'' awarded the album a score of 8 out of 10, writing that "there is nothing on ''Time 'n' Place'' that even remotely approaches the mainline sugar-rush of tracks like '

Trampoline A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame often using many coiled spring (device), springs. People bounce on trampolines for recreational and competitive purposes. The fabric that use ...

' or 'Picture This' rom ''Bonito Generation''and frankly it's hard not to miss that style," but later stating that "won over you'll be, as long as you keep an open mind, as this is still a KKB album, full of great melodies,

kitschy ''Kitsch'' ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as Naivety, naïve imitation, overly eccentric, gratuitous or of banal Taste (sociology), taste. The modern avant-garde traditionally opposed kitsch ...

one-off

synth A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

flourishes, and amusing lyrical tangents." He concluded by calling it the band's most cohesive album, "with a real ebb and flow, as opposed to 2016's ''Bonito Generation'', which, excellent as it was, sounded more like a collection of singles or

SoundCloud SoundCloud is a German audio streaming service owned and operated by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG. The service enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is ...

posts."

Track listing

All songs written by Gus Lobban except where noted.

Personnel

Credits adapted from Kero Kero Bonito's and their label's official websites. Kero Kero Bonito * Sarah Midori Perry – vocals * Gus Lobban – drums, keyboards, backing vocals , production * Jamie Bulled – bass, vocals Additional musicians * James Rowland – guitar, noise * The Parakeets ( Cecile Believe, Elaiza Santos & Oscar) – backing vocals * Jennifer Walton – noise * The Sometimes Singers (George, Yasmin,

bo en Calum Thomas Bowen (born 26 February 1991), also known professionally as Bo En (stylized as bo en), is an English musician and video game producer born in London. Career Bowen released his debut album titled ''pale machine'' in 2013. In 2014, he ...

, Aggie & Oscar) – extra vocals * Calum "Bo-En" Bowen – string arrangement * Cindy Foster & Greta Mutlu – violins * Alex Plant-Smith – cello Technical * Jimmy Robertson – band recording * Andy Ramsay – engineering, additional recording * Anthony Lim – mixing, mastering

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2018 albums Kero Kero Bonito albums Polyvinyl Record Co. albums