With his jazz-esque freeform expressionist style, the electronica artist and producer Robert Reeve has coined his own genre, ‘instrumental groove music’, but even with that label, it’s only a teaser of what you can expect from his quasi-avant-garde compositions. In his latest single, Overtone, he fuses cinematically lush textures with Chiptune-style polyphonic synths and keys, flipping the rhythmic script with off-kilter time signatures that crack open a whole new mode of aural exploration.
Overtone doesn’t try to fit into any established mould. It dances to its own circuitry. It’s an invitation to sink into infinite sonic possibilities, built on imagination rather than pretence. Cymbals crash around radiant flurries of synths. Piano chord progressions unfold like shifting scenery in an 80s dream sequence. There’s a playfulness that never veers into parody, and a sharpness behind the eccentricity that signals the decades of sonic graft Reeve has put in.
The West Midlands-based artist first fell in love with electronic music through the ‘cheesy’ dance-pop of the 90s, from Haddaway to Robert Miles, before discovering darker corners with The Prodigy and Pop Will Eat Itself. After a stint of bedroom DJing, Reeve threw himself into formal study and drumming, leading to gigs, sessions, and collaborative projects across the country.
From supporting The Libertines to recording with Tony ‘Doggen’ Foster, he eventually shifted focus to teaching and opened The Rockin Rooms. Years later, spurred by the stillness of lockdown, he returned to his own experimentation, where his fascination with new toys and software fuelled a fresh creative wave. Overtone is the most potent outcome yet.
Overtone is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.
Review by Amelia Vandergast