Time 'n' Place

by Kero Kero Bonito

* The songwriting of this thing is so honest, introspective and painful. There is a sense of aimlessness, self loathing and isolation all throughout the album. A feeling that you have no place in the world, or that nothing has meaning, that you are a shell of your future self, it's all something the album unabashedly explores without filter. And I think it is doing something powerful there, I think it can shine a light for a lot of people because it speaks to the experiences of so many.

* For more specific examples, I read "Visiting Hours" to be about a depressive person who is in isolation from the world around them. The song is from the perspective of the visitor of a patient, who I think are both the same person, the visitor being from the previous track "Dear Future Self," evidenced by the song transition between them, and of course the patient being the depressed future self. These both are a representation of self-loathing from a depressed person who feels like they have become so far from an idealized image of their old self, they want their old self back.

* "Time Today" explores time as an uncaring force, it feels like you can never get everything you want done. This one spoke to me in particular, sometimes the days just drift on and on and it slips away from you. "If I'd known" explores the vastness of the universe, and how meaningless it feels. It is actually pretty similiar to the aforementioned; both time and the universe are bigger than—and indifferent—to us.

* "Only Acting" feels like the most real, and regretfully relatable cut on the entire LP. People struggling with mental health sometimes put on a mask to hide their unhappiness, their sorrows, their "ugly" selves—but I think it is more broad than that; it speaks to how so many people act throughout their lives, the most brutal case of self loathing. The only person who knows them is theirselves, writing scripts and rehearsing to be accepted.

* The instrumentals are so beautifully arranged and sequenced. It's danceable, catchy, and screams happy. The wonderful song transitions, the dreamy melodies, it's sonic bliss. The use of creepy distortions like on "Only Acting" and "Rest Stop" in turn feel like a distortion of this happy cheerful sound, which begins to feel like a facade when taking in the songwriting into account.

* I love the vocals as well. Sarah Bonito sings most of this and I think her performance is incredible. Unlike the songs she is much more subdued and mellowed, and I think it digs more into the truth of the moods of these songs. It almost sounds like intimate whispers. The subtle performance makes it feel all the more personal.

* "Time 'n' Place" by Kero Kero Bonito is one of the most honest albums I've ever heard. An album drenched in honey-like melancholy, bittersweet. From the songwriting's depiction of mental health struggles, the quiet and unenergetic performances to the distortions, you start to realize that the cheery instrumentals themselves are "Only Acting."