Kero Kero Bonito

The London-based trio Kero Kero Bonito champions pop that embraces daring invention. Their initial singles, the 2013 mixtape Intro Bonito, and the 2016 debut album Bonito Generation fused Sarah Midori Perry’s weightless singing with production from Gus Lobban and Jamie Bulled, yielding gleaming tracks rooted in J-pop, video-game scores, and dancehall. Even as their approach shifted toward the brooding, punk-tinged sound of 2018’s Time ’n’ Place and the intricate electronic art-pop of 2021’s Civilisation, the group consistently balanced formal experimentation with emotional resonance.

Early in the 2010s Lobban—who also records as Kane West and Augustus—and Bulled—who also works as Wharfwhit—resolved to assemble a pop outfit with an unadorned style and worldwide reach. The former classmates located a singer through MixB, a web forum for Japanese expatriates, and met Sarah Midori Perry, a half-Japanese, half-English creator who had relocated to the U.K. at age 13. Beyond vocals and lyrics, she shaped the band’s playfully subversive imagery.

The group’s first single, “Coursework Story,” surfaced in 2012, followed by numerous tracks and the 2013 mixtape Intro Bonito. Crafted largely on a Casio mini-keyboard, that release included “Sick Beat” and “Homework,” while “I’d Rather Sleep” later became a viral social-media phenomenon in 2020. The next year brought the EP Bonito Recycling, which offered Intro Bonito remixes by Danny L. Harle and Spazzkid. In September 2016 Kero Kero Bonito issued its full-length debut, Bonito Generation. The record expanded songwriting that toyed with pop conventions and aligned with the hyper-pop aesthetic of the PC Music circle as well as K-pop and 8-bit influences. Beyond favorable reviews, Bonito Generation peaked at number nine on the World Albums chart and number 15 on the Vinyl Albums chart in the U.S. The following year saw Bonito (Retakes), an EP of remixes featuring contributions from Frankie Cosmos, CFCF, and Saint Etienne.

After extensive touring in support of Bonito Generation, the trio chose to expand its sonic range. On the 2018 Totep EP and its single “Only Acting,” they integrated punk guitars and live drums. The track also surfaced on the second album, Time ’n’ Place, which incorporated shoegaze, grunge, rock, orchestral, and noise textures alongside lyrical reflections on lost innocence. Recorded partly in Lobban’s bedroom and partly with engineer Jimmy Robertson and former Stereolab drummer Andy Ramsay, the set arrived in October 2018. In the U.S. it topped the Heatseekers Albums chart and reached number five on the Vinyl Albums chart. That same year Kero Kero Bonito appeared on Manon’s album Teenage Diary.

September 2019’s Civilisation I EP marked another pivot, adopting a chillier electronic palette that matched its themes of governmental corruption and climate crisis. After writing the theme for the video game Bugsnax and contributing to a 100 gecs “Ringtone” remix in 2020, the band returned in April 2021 with Civilisation II. Like its predecessor, the EP was produced and tracked in Lobban’s bedroom studio using vintage equipment and drew from decades of art-pop while contemplating humanity’s extremes. Later that year the group compiled both EPs as the album Civilisation. Individual members also advanced solo work: Bulled released the U.K. garage-inflected singles “Strictly Dumb Dancing/Live Laugh Love London” in 2021 and Jamie Loves Bangers in 2022 under the JLB moniker, while Perry launched the Cryalot project with the 2022 EP Icarus and its 2023 remix companion. In April 2023 Polyvinyl reissued Intro Bonito with additional tracks.