TOTEP, erroneously spelled out as "The One True EP" on some physical releases, is the third extended play by Kero Kero Bonito.
Style[]
The EP marks a departure from the "sunny" electropop of previous releases in favor of a "grungier, guitar-heavy style, full of crunching distortion and glitched out noise." The music videos for "The One True Path" and "Only Acting" are shot on grainy home video and edited together choppily, to reflect the album's grungier style.
Reception[]
Anna Gace of Spin opined that the songs on the EP "feel a bit sketched-in, but they also suggest that KKB see a future where they're not just cranking out delightfully goofy bubblegum dance-pop."
James Rettig of Stereogum wrote, "The new songs cycle through grunge-y, power-poppy, and dreamy, and they're all great and demonstrate the versatility of KKB's sound."
Following the group's signing to Polyvinyl Records, the EP was issued physically for the first time and charted at #6 on the Top Heatseekers chart.
Track listing[]
Total length: 11:04
Credits[]
- Sarah Midori Perry - Vocals
- Gus Lobban - Drums, Production
- Jamie Bulled - Bass
- James Rowland - Guitar, Noise
- The Parakeets (Caila, z and Oscar): backing vocals
- Jimmy Robertson - recording
- Andy Ramsey - engineering
- Anthony Lim - additional mixing, mastering
- Recorded December 2017 @ Press Play, Bermondsey & Gus' room, Bromley
Name Meaning[]
- "TOTEP" is often considered an acronym for "The One True EP", because it is listed as such on the spine of some physical copies of the record, distributed by Polyvinyl. The band has referred to this as a "mis-pressing". This explanation is also believed because the first song on the record is "The One True Path". The band has not, however, clarified what TOTEP actually means. Some have speculated that the first three letters: TOT resemble a crying emoji, and EP stands for "extended play", thus implying a darker sounding EP than their previous work. However, no official explanation has been given to date.
- TOTEP was the second time "Only Acting" was released. It was previously released as a single, and later included as the lead single from the band's second studio album, Time 'n' Place (2018).
- Though released separately, TOTEP and Time 'n' Place come from the same pool of tracks, written and recorded simultaneously. TOTEP was inspired by Citrus' "brief, bizarre EPs", which "leave you with more questions than answers".
- The group recorded the band parts for both Time 'n' Place and TOTEP in a five-day session at Press Play Studios, run by Andy Ramsay.