EXPLORING THE END OF WORLD
Kero Kero Bonito’s latest EP channels the band’s concerns about the future of the planet
Producers/multi-instrumentalists (and high-school friends) Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled met vocalist Sarah Midori Perry through a message-board for Japanese expats. Six years, two full-lengths and numerous tours later, the trio has achieved an international fan base for its fusion of electro-Atari sounds, Japanese pop (a.k.a. J-pop), and indie-rock.
Their latest release, Civilization I, is a three-song EP that channels the group’s concerns for the future of the planet through jittery rhythms, cascading synths, and Perry’s winsome vocals.
We talked to Lobban about the size of his bedroom, thrift stores, and the future of civilization.
Q With all that’s going on, is it a relief to get out of the U.K.?
A Honestly, I love being out here. There’s stuff happening here (in North America) too but, in a selfish way, it doesn’t directly affect us. It’s lovely to get away from the stuff in the U.K. There’s actually nothing you can do about it, it’s hanging over everyone all the time. It’s not like you can take the information and do anything with it. It’s just depressing. Q You wouldn’t necessarily know from the music on this latest EP that the lyrics have serious intentions. Is that juxtaposition something you like in other bands’ music as well? A I think that music that’s overly
didactic loses a lot of the tension that makes itself useful. It’s funny, because we don’t think about it consciously. When you’re exploring and writing music, those things just kind of jump out at you. If you try to do it too much it would definitely be contrived to construct that emotional response. You almost have to let your subconscious do it for you.
Q Sarah writes the lyrics, but do they sometimes come out of conversations between the three of you?
A Yeah. That goes right back to the first KKB record (2016’s Bonito Generation). It was very casual. It’s fortunate that the three of us get on as mates. That’s really why we’ve gotten to the point we have.
Q The press release says that the EP was made entirely in your bedroom. Is it a big bedroom?
A I make it sound much bigger than it is. Europeans are quite good at making the most out of small spaces. Our sense of space is different from North Americans’. I think in North America people are much more used to big distances and traversing wide spaces. In Europe we’re used to pokey little hovels and getting the most out of the little space we have that’s been carved out since medieval times.
Q How does the artwork, which looks like petroglyphs, relate to the lyrics?
A Sarah did the artwork. It was inspired by the themes of the songs. I don’t know if I can offer too much of a literal interpretation, though I do notice the plume of fire rising on one side, which I think might be an allusion to (the song) When the Fires Come. That artwork actually was an exploration of semantics. We’re very interested in that and in things like petroglyphs, diagrams and myths and means of communication over history. Q A lot of bands when they’re on tour find the nearest thrift store or record store. You guys go looking for the nearest cave paintings?
A It’s actually a huge thing that we we’ll go to thrift stores and the nearest Goodwill store. My mom is an antique seller in the U.K., so for me going to charity shops and junk fairs and markets is very normal. That’s another huge theme in Civilization I, it’s making something out of junk that we’ve left behind. And when this esoteric, virtual, fragile world disintegrates, what will be left? Just the physical remnants of our civilization. It’s about embracing that inevitability now, and exploring what that could look like, rather than having too much faith in the Cloud.