This year's dancefloor has belonged to Fred Again... but last night at Chalk Farm's Roundhouse, Overmono made a sterling case for bagging 2024.
For the uninitiated, Overmono is the stage name of brothers Tom and Ed Russell. Named after the Monmouth suburb of Overmonnow in Wales (congratulations to whoever came up with that pun) where they grew up, the brothers had been making music separately for years under the names Truss and Tessela before finally coming together in 2015.
It's a move that has paid off: they’ve only been gathering steam since. They’ve collaborated with Joy Orbison, played Coachella, and scored a top 20 album with debut Good Lies. Think Fred Again.. by way of Bicep, and you won’t be too far off: these fellas are serious, wear trendy clothing and don’t smile in any of their press photos.
That said, the vibe at the sold-out Roundhouse was anything but serious. The atmosphere was zinging with anticipation and the venue packed to the rafters with dance fans sporting Carhartt shirts and cross-body bags, of course, ready to party.
After a simple "Hi London", Overmono duly provided that party. It’s a difficult art, getting a live set right, especially in electronic music: simply racing through the hits with a few lasers isn’t going to cut it. Though they rocketed through their setlist like they had jetpacks on, last night was a more varied blend, spinning the old together with the new and making magic out of whatever came up – aided, yes, by the impressive light displays on the wall behind them.
As a result, the dancefloor was packed due to banger after banger – an unreleased remix of Tessela’s Hackney Parrot one moment, a sample of Ruff Sqwad’s Functions On The Low the next. Blow Out, one of their bigger hits, was accompanied by visuals of two Dobermanns frolicking in slow motion against three massive video screens set on the wall above them.
This wasn’t an entirely polished act, but it was promising. Overmono are still cutting their teeth when it comes to commanding an audience, and the set dragged slightly in the middle – but then we were back for a rendition of I Have A Love, which saw artist David Balfe – who helms the spoken word music project For Those I Love – joining the pair on stage, followed by thunderous renditions of Bby, Is U and finally, Good Lies that had the entire venue jumping.
As the music drew to a close, hands reached towards sky like it was 3am on a Saturday rather than 10pm on a Wednesday – and the pair headed out to the front of the stage and raised their hands to the cheering audience. Then they leaned in for a hug, as well they should. This is a family business, and it's booming.
