The Romantic, Perfectionist Rave Music Of Overmono
Joy and anxiety, longing and sadness, euphoria and anxiety – delusional promises and fear of something going wrong – add up to a complex emotional cocktail that the track reflects. But freedom, first of all, is the main idea that runs through all their work. Freedom to dance and have fun, feel comfortable and not be judged, let go of ego and inhibitions and connect with other dancers. Listening to a song like “Gunk” you feel free, like a lively Doberman.
“I think we always try to keep things as simple as possible without complicating things,” says Ed Russell, one half of Overmono along with his brother Tom. “I think we've always been attracted to music that seems pretty simple, and we've always been put off by music with a lot of little ideas that come and go but don't really amount to much.”
There's also a freedom from the genre obsession that often defines British dance music; the brothers recorded in the UK garage, others in the jungle, etc., but they all have a certain signature, rawness and spontaneity in both their production and music. How do they get to your heart? It's amazing how much emotional weight the brothers can squeeze out of just two vibrant, pulsating notes, filtering and transforming them, moving up and down the scale to one of the duo's signature distorted R&B samples.
However, achieving these goals requires a lot of trial and error.
“Gank is a good example of how frustrating music can be at times,” says Tom. “You have a basic idea that takes shape pretty quickly, and we both know when there's a basic idea that we think is worth pursuing. But it can take a long time before it sounds the way we want. We'll have a basic idea or structure for a track and we'll spend hours, days, weeks, sometimes months refining it and perfecting it and making it sound the way we want it to sound."
The two studios in Bristol and Devon still have plenty of equipment. They describe their setup as "chaos and a bunch of equipment." Every time they complete a project, they rebuild the entire system, taking a vast collection of synthesizers, drum machines and other instruments and rearranging them to explore new ideas. It's the opposite of their songwriting process, which favors simplicity and directness.
“We always know exactly how we want the record to sound, and sometimes it takes a long time to get to that point, but we always know when we get there,” says Ed. “It's a very long and very messy process to take a rough idea and transform it into something that feels complete without losing its original rawness."
The brothers decided to create Overmono after creative frustration. Both found success as solo artists in the London club scene, but neither felt satisfied. Ed felt particularly limited by his job at Tesella. his song "Hackney Parrot" became an underground hit, establishing him as a beat-house producer. “It became a thorn in my side because it got to the point where I had to use the 'Think' break on every record,” he says, referring to the famous drum example. “Tom [as Thruss] had similar experiences with heavy techno material, and we both felt creatively that there was a lot more we wanted to get out of ourselves. And so we thought, well yeah, maybe we should just try to do something different .
They left London for a gap year to clear their heads. “It was fun. When we started the project, we had no intention of starting the project. We thought: let's write music together . It's more of a festival than anything,” explains Ed. After listening to the music we wrote in three days, we thought , oh, it actually sounds a lot more cohesive than I think any of us expected."
These sessions were the birth of the band, who took their name from their hometown of Overmonow in Wales. The project has eclipsed their solo careers and they will return to Miami for an extended period following the release of their debut album Good Lies in May. Last year's Dobermans will also return. In most of their promotional covers, albums and EPs, the XL recordings have become iconic for the band.
They might be a little nervous about taking the controlled chaos of their studio with them on tour. Ed says they've brought more equipment to the job than ever before, giving them the flexibility to change things as they go.
“It gets bigger and bigger, we keep adding,” he says.
Single ear. 11 p.m., Friday, Sept. 15, at the Ground, 34 NE 11th St., Miami; thegroundmiami.com. Tickets are $37.47 at dice.fm.
