- Truss and Tessela continue to hone their rave-inspired sound.
- Truss and Tessela's joint production project, Overmono, launched in 2016 when the UK rave sound was experiencing a revival. As such, It didn't feel like such a surprise when Overmono signed to XL Recordings with a collection of rave-inspired tunes. Raft Living is the first Overmono EP on Tessela's recently revived Poly Kicks label. It shows how the project, which began as a trilogy of club-focussed but eclectic EPs, has evolved. The pads and rhythms still have some of the nostalgia of early trance and techno, but the overall sound feels more specific to Overmono. "Daisy Chain" riffs on a more traditional garage rhythm, while the high-definition production adds the kind of bodily low-end heard in contemporary bass and techno. "The Mabe" is carried by similarly vintage-sounding syncopations, eventually flattening out into something that could have been lifted from a '90s white label.
The title track has no beat at all, which is something we've heard on previous Overmono releases. They usually end with an ambient track, as was the case with the atmospheric epic of Arla II's "Power Dry" and the lush organ vibrations of Arla III's "Harp Open." "Raft Living" is especially strange, with a cosmic modular synth sequence that plays for two minutes then fades out.
TracklistA1 Daisy Chain
B1 The Mabe
B2 Raft Living