The UK sets a high bar for new electronic acts. Hot on the heels of Bicep are another duo armed with a sense of rave nostalgia, an array of samples and nimble, fat-free productions. Brothers Tom and Ed Russell grew up in rural south Wales, hosting splendidly isolated micro-raves in woods and quarries (the duo take their band name from Overmonnow, a Monmouth suburb; amusingly, their forenames also echo the Chemical Brothers’).
Unlike Bicep, though, Overmono aren’t techno revivalists, but partial to old school syncopations: they fillet jungle, two-step and trap for beats, R&B and hip-hop for sped-up vocals, and then impose flirtation, dread or weapons-grade nostalgia on the results. Consequently, they are shaping up to be an albums act rather than just savvy dancefloor engineers. This is an album full of emotional ambushes.
The oldest certified banger on here is So U Kno: its skeletal rattle, menacing bass and chipmunk vocal sample has a powerful new iteration in Is U, another track big on skitter, bass and looped, pitch-shifted Tirzah vocals, now with added rave washes. There are loads more where those came from. In between the outgoing tracks is some ASMR-level digital detail: Arla Fearn is uncategorisably creepy; Skulled is five minutes of wub-wubbing hydraulic joy.
