Overmono Went Out Of Their Minds Making Pure Devotion

Since emerging in 2016, Overmono have honed a hooky strain of UK garage. Tom and Ed Russell quickly attracted respect from tastemakers: The 2021 single, “So U Kno,” was crowned Resident Advisor’s track of the year. Their 2023 full-length debut, Good Lies, elevated the stakes. From appearances at Glastonbury’s West Holts stage and O2 Brixton Academy in London to songs with Fred again.. and Lil Yachty, Overmono are blasting towards the stratosphere.Pure Devotion — Overmono’s sophomore LP for XL Recordings — borrows its name from an event series the brothers curated. “The methods we were going to, to get results, were becoming more extreme and ridiculous. It felt like it made sense the record should be called Pure Devotion. This was after a couple days of setting up crazy tape loops we would maybe use 10 seconds of. It was naturally fitting, after going insane writing a record,” Ed tells me. We are gathered at a subterranean control room in Manhattan, peppered with coveted gear and sooty ashtrays.Audaciousness shaped Pure Devotion. Overmono established a frame, which was intended to be bent. They retreated to Iceland and northwest Spain, forgoing sleep and routine in isolation. Sylvia...