Overmono
About
U.K. electronic duo Overmono are known for their infectious, club-ready sound, informed by their love of hard-edged '90s rave, trance, and breakbeat. It was a style they debuted on 2016's Arla EP and continued to develop on 2017's Arla II.
Raised in Wales, siblings Tom and Ed Russell both had successful careers in electronic music before they began collaborating as Overmono -- with Tom known for his hard-edged techno as Truss and Ed for his rave-instilled bass work as Tessela -- although there was a brief time the brothers performed together as the hardware-based techno duo TR//ER. Deciding to reduce the influence of their individual work from the mix, the pair booked five days in an isolated cottage studio in Devon to thrash out ideas and put together tracks for a possible release. Drawing inspiration from the pair's love of classic rave music and early-'90s trance and techno, the duo's unique mix of boundary-pushing electronica caught the ear of pioneering British dance label XL Recordings, which instantly signed the brothers.
Overmono were on a roll before lockdown. As the top YouTube comment for their Joy Orbison collaboration track ‘Bromley’ put it, “so this is the track that was on every 5 minutes at Warehouse Project. ”That track and the duo’s own ‘Le Tigre’ were played out constantly by the likes of Four Tet and Ben UFO, the former also hiring the duo to remix his track ‘Teenage Birdsong’. Then there are their edits. Thom Yorke was so impressed by the duo’s versions of ‘Not The News’ that he let them release the tracks on their own Polykicks label. Then the world abruptly stopped, all their forthcoming gigs were cancelled and suddenly Overmono were able to fully commit their energy to their legendary Bromley studio. It’s was during this time that the duo feel they’ve been able to realise exactly what Overmono’s music should be. “Our work together had so far been about exploring and defining what Overmono is... and we feel like we’ve got this now”.
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