Tear Jerker / Kero Kero Bonito

• "Pocket Crocodile" ends on a pretty sudden and really sad note, which can hit especially hard for any pet owners out there^note Though this can be lessened upon finding out crocodiles lifespans are actually pretty long, most living an average 70-100 years. Or if you interpret the song being about a Tamagotchi.:
  Crocodile lifespan
  Isn't very long
  Even when he's gone
  He loves you
• Time 'n' Place in its entirety is without a doubt the darkest the band has ever gotten, plunging directly into themes of approaching an increasingly uncertain future that their past projects only allude to or outright refute. The band's much grittier and down-to-earth aesthetic during this time (including the album's cover art◊) only punctuates the bittersweet melancholia that surrounds their music.
  • "Flyway" is a deeply melancholic Wanderlust Song about watching migratory birds as a child. Despite the exuberant, shoegazey instrumental, Sarah's vocal delivery almost makes it sound like a Grief Song. Gets even worse when you know that Sarah wrote it after the loss of her pet bird, so it partially is a Grief Song.
    "So ride the rising currents
    I trust that I will see you again
    When I pick up the courage
    I hope that I can join you someday"
  • "Dear Future Self", despite how triumphant the instrumental sounds, the lyrics constantly switch between upbeat, innocent wonder and contemplative, existential fear, and the result is overwhelming.
    But I heard all the years’ll leave you hurt
    Everyone you love disappears and nothing works
    Please don't say you hate the world
    I hope that I won't
  • There's also the Reality Subtext that surrounded the album's creation and hit the trio like a truck, namely the loss of several of their loved ones, as well as the revealed loss of Sarah's childhood home.
• The "Time Today" video seems to depict Sarah as a patient of a mental institution ^note She's seen doing some things that wouldn't be always be allowed in typical facilities, like using scissors, so it's unclear if these scenes are artistic license or if it's meant to be some other situation, albeit what seems to be a much nicer one than what's usually depicted in fiction. Since the video uses the VHS aesthetic of the other Time 'n' Place era videos and was filmed in a real nursing home, this could have been creepy, but comes off more melancholy and a little bittersweet - there's scenes of Sarah crying or seeming confused or distraught, but they're juxtaposed with happier moments like face-timing with Jamie and Gus or sharing a hug with a nurse, and at one point she's seen circling a date on a calendar, which is possibly a sign she's only there temporarily. A relatively innocuous-seeming scene of her interacting with a toy bird in a cage as though it were real has some sad Reality Subtext (see the tearjerker entry for "Flyway").