Kero Kero Bonito

Bonito Generation

Bonito Generation understands completely that life-affirming occasions don’t happen every day, and so it finds equal mirth in things that end as soon as they begin. Half the songs on this album seem to say huh, this is fun before passing through to the next modicum of levity, and it’s a contagious sort of spirit, buoyed by a sense of youthfulness.

The one fault with this first work: It crams together a bunch of massive singles, melted into a sometimes grating dose of glucose. But that’s the compromise for penning twelve monster hits. And these really are hits. They’re not songs to skirt the pop fringes without making an impact.

On ‘Bonito Generation’, the band have taken an aesthetic that many would think too shallow for an album, and made it engaging for all 12 songs.

Bonito Generation is thickly coated in this sweet pop sheen, and repeated listens can induce the same effect as a sugar rush.

Their no-fat nuggets have the hyper-slickness of kawaii J-pop, while harking back to an era (the 90s, obv) when high-concept chart hits were as ubiquitous as boy bands’ curtains (recalling, especially, one-hit-wonders Len).