10 August 2026
Leading pioneers within the electronic music landscape, Overmono have spent the last few years solidifying their status as one of the defining dance music acts of the decade. Renowned for their bass-driven, experimental sound, one that effortlessly weaves elements of garage, rap, jungle, and UK rave heritage, the Welsh duo, consisting of brothers Tom and Ed Russell have gone above and beyond, developing a discography so strong it has captivated millions across the globe in recent years.
Building on the monumental success of their 2023 debut album Good Lies, their second LP Pure Devotion arrives in great fashion, notably the same day as their Royal Naval College headline show in Greenwich.
Sharing the name, spirit and ethos, Pure Devotion is the duo’s most ambitious album to date, first conceptualised in October 2024, during a casual chat over coffee in Ed’s kitchen about the Roland SH–2, an analogue synthesiser released in 1979, which Tom had gifted to Ed for his birthday. Struck by their appreciation for the sonic power of hardware from the 70s and 80s, the pair realised they could merge analogue synthesisers with contemporary computer technology to make the sound feel new.
The rollout singles had already laid the groundwork for the album’s expansive emotional scope, with the explosive ‘Lock Up’ setting the tone immediately, flipping an obscure 1970s Birmingham post-punk sample into an instant rave classic. Contrast that with ‘Knight In Shining Prada’, a deeply moving standout where poet John Joseph Holt’s raw voice note, written about his late brother, was sculpted across 83 studio iterations alongside rich Prophet synth chords. This track, covering a similar subject matter, offers a similar emotional resonance to ‘I Have A Love’ featuring For Those I Love, the perfect combination of electronic and spoken word that evokes chills with equal dopamine.
Elsewhere, the bouncy, soulful ‘Gem Lingo (ovr now)’ features Paul Institute signed singer Ruthven delivering an infectious summer anthem, while ‘Even Angels Ghost’ reunites the duo with vocalist Kindora for custom, floating melodies that drift gracefully over heavy basslines.
One of the brand new tracks from the project, ‘Barum’ takes a different approach, with the vocal sample taking centre stage, nestled in a short, processed reverb that allows the complementary bass, synth bells, and percussion to elevate the vocal’s raw emotion. To get that unique, tactile texture, the duo channelled the drums through a vintage 1930s train station speaker and a Marshall stack, with Ed even using dummy mics against his face to capture sound bouncing off his bone structure. When the synth warps into a crisp pluck past the halfway mark, a brief rise before returning to calm, it offers a distinct, masterfully engineered flavour.
The bass on ‘Adre’ is overdriven and distorted, allowing the delicate synths to guide the track into much more ambient territory. That poignant, crumbling chord texture was actually a happy accident in the studio, achieved by deliberately overloading a cheap Behringer FX unit until it ran out of data and glitched out its reverse reverb.
If you’re searching for heavier, ravey anthems, both ‘Ballad’ and ‘After The Rain’ deliver. ‘Ballad’ the more subtle offering of the two, building up to a pulsating rhythm with the kick tightly side-chained to the analogue bass and synths.
Serving as the album’s life-affirming closer, ‘After The Rain’ encapsulates that bittersweet sunrise feeling, one that feels perfect for a festival set closer, crafted by blending recontextualised vocal samples from experimental pop duo Smerz with optimistic, swelling chords.
Pure Devotion is signature Overmono, executed in a way that shows the true maturity of the duo. 11 straight rave tracks wouldn’t have worked cohesively; instead, we get moments of calm, physical experimentation, and deep reflection woven into atmospheric electronic soundscapes. Listening to their RA Exchange interview, it’s clear that the lengths the duo will go to, to achieve a specific sound are staggering. Whether it’s baking a crash cymbal (yes in the oven) and further sanding it down and then smothered in coffee grounds, crisps and vinegar, or recording drum machines through a 1920s train announcement speaker, the innovation is pretty incredible.
It is – excuse the cliché – artistry at its finest. That’s what creativity should be and stem from, and Pure Devotion feels a statement embodiment of their craft, equally balanced in substance, sub-genre and emotion.
★★★★☆