Overmono — the duo of brothers Ed and Tom Russell, better known individually as Tessela and Truss — arrive on XL Recordings with Everything U Need, their debut for the label and the record the pair have called their most complete to date. It arrives with considerable momentum behind it: 2019’s Le Tigre and Bromley, their collaboration with Joy Orbison, were two of that year’s biggest underground club records, and this EP is the sound of the project snapping into sharp focus — a defining document of the early-2020s UK melodic-rave sound.
Title track Everything U Need wastes no time making its case. A rolling four-to-the-floor kick locks in beneath lush, wide-open pads, and when the drums briefly fall away around the midpoint the release is pure rave-revival euphoria, the bass surging back in with a warmth that feels less like nostalgia and more like a promise. It’s a big-room melody handled with real restraint — nothing peaks too early, and the six minutes pass in what feels like three.
Aero strips the euphoria back and heads for the floor, its tight, driving percussion and airy stabs pushing the energy into head-down techno territory. Then comes Clipper - Another 5 Years, the title itself a knowing glance backwards; it’s the most breakbeat-led moment on the record, all rolling drums and wired energy, the pair’s rave roots worn proudly on the sleeve.
Everything U Need was Overmono's debut release on XL Recordings.
Final track Verbosa is the afterglow — a slow-burning melodic-techno closer where stretched, resonant chords wash over a patient groove, the pads doing the emotional heavy lifting as the drums recede into the distance. It’s the most sentimental the record gets, and it lands beautifully.
With artwork from director Rollo Jackson and four tracks that each earn their place, Everything U Need is a confident, complete statement of intent. The brothers Russell claimed this was their most complete record to date, and it’s hard to argue — this is the EP that took the UK melodic-rave sound from the warehouse and handed it to the world, and it still sounds like the future.
