Kero Kero Bonito have released a new EP titled Civilisation II. The project serves as the sequel to 2019’s Civilisation I EP and includes the previously released ‘The Princess and the Clock’ – which landed on our Best New Songs segment – as well as the new single ’21/04/20′. The track was written a year ago today and arrives with a video conceptualized by Dan W. Jacobs, who also created the visuals for ‘The Princess and The Clock’. Check it out and stream the full EP below.
“21/04/20’’ recounts a typical day in the early Covid lockdown in Bromley (South London), complete with a late leftover pasta breakfast, enthusiastic joggers and friendship conducted over video call,” KKB explained in a statement. “Its direct, documentary style was inspired by narrative art like the Bayeux Tapestry and Trajan’s Column. Its electronic singer-songwriter feel (like a synthesised version of The Carpenters or Carole King) poignantly matches the lyrics’ combination of everyday minutiae and deeper existential concerns.”
Of the concept behind the new EP, they added:
Each of Civilisation II’s three tracks are set in the past, present and future respectively. ‘The Princess and the Clock’ (past) is a legend of our own invention, designed to feel like a familiar folk tale. It tells the story of a young explorer who was kidnapped and revered as a princess by an isolated society; her worshippers later found her gone, but it’s up to the listener to guess her fate. ‘21/04/20’ embodies our present, and ‘Well Rested’ (future) is our longest track yet at over seven minutes. ‘Well Rested’ addresses The Resurrection and humanity’s distant future. It’s a humanist manifesto for the Anthropocene in several parts incorporating chants, a constant four-to-the-floor and field recordings of natural sites. The Civilisation era, with its conflation of time on the grandest scale, is a bridge between our more personal 2018 album Time ‘n’ Place and KKB’s next move. Whatever that may be, don’t forget: You Cannot Stop Civilisation.
