Kero Kero Bonito – Intro Bonito (2013)

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Saccharine? Quirky? Underwritten? Empty? Innocent? Reliant on video game references? Lacking substance? In the legendary words of Jay-Z: Do you fools listen to music or do you just skim through it?

Intro Bonito presents itself opposite to what it truly is: Sarah Bonito’s songwriting is exceptionally poignant, carrying a deeply anxious undercurrent in spite of her simplistic vocabulary, backed by Gus and Jamie’s deceptively saccharine pico-pop production fueled by retro game samples and KK sliders. Kero Kero Bonito’s soundscapes are that of naive simplicity serving as escapism from growing up in a scary world. The Japanese would call Sarah’s societal dissociation like ‘denpa‘, compounded by the music’s fantastical strangeness to outsiders. Much of the current internet generation have, ironically, grown disconnected from what society tells you is reality, and exactly in that anxiety does Kero Kero Bonito thrive. ‘I’d Rather Sleep‘ summarizes Intro Bonito best; falling in a depression because you’re incapable of keeping up with the world around you, struggling to retain the imaginative, innocent happiness of being a child (“Trees used to talk to me / Now I know what’s real and what’s fake“). The crushing weight of adulthood suffocates Sarah who struggles to cope with the expectation that she should become a mother just because she is a woman on ‘Babies (Are so Strange)‘; the homogenization of students through a rigid school system that discourages creativity (‘Homework‘); deforestation and the increasing artificiality of nature corresponding to industrialization in the most bittersweet third verse ever on ‘Let’s Go To the Forest‘ (“Oh wait, the forest got demolished / When they built the airport years ago / But we can still go see the ocean / Cause they put it in a bowl at the mall“).

Although arguably monotone, Sarah’s sympathy lends itself through her reciting of many recognizable anecdotes examining how anxiety manifests itself through a young age: her dissociation had always been present as she would rather watch ‘cool’ kids reach the top instead of climbing the frame herself (‘Park Song‘), and was alienated from her claustrophobic, tiny home place just because she looked different, causing a strong desire to fly away (‘Small Town‘).

However, Intro Bonito isn’t merely skepticism and bittersweet disappointment hidden behind cutesy drawings against pink backgrounds: it introduces itself with bombastic fanfare on the Kyary Kyary Pamyu-reminiscent title track, takes agency into its own hands defying social expectations on the gimmicky ‘Sick Beat‘, and despite its tingly sad ending, ‘Pocket Crocodile‘ optimistically cherishes the memories of love and happiness from something as ‘odd’ as a crocodile, rather than to sob about them.

Intro Bonito encourages a cathartic healing experience by celebrating unity amongst diversity, notably with its high point of ‘My Party‘, sharing a common theme with ‘Flamingo‘ (absent from the mixtape) that everybody is invited to Sarah’s party where no matter of your appearance or affiliation you can too join in on the fun! Kero Kero Bonito is so appealing for they hold out their hand to carry you out of a rut; they recognize the difficulty but refuses to escape by rejecting society, rather encouraging agency and individualism. Very little fills me with more joy than Sarah and the boys finally spreading their wings and flying away from Kenilworth like they wished so they could instill happiness in the hearts of others around the world.