Discovering this Jackhammer Sound and Dancefloor Alternative Rock of Ashnymph and the Week's Best Fresh Music
Based in London and Brighton
If you enjoy artists like Underworld, MGMT, or Animal Collective
Coming soon A new EP planned for 2026, currently without a title
Both tracks put out so far by the group Ashnymph resist simple labeling: the band's own tag of their music as “subconscioussion” leaves listeners guessing. Debut Saltspreader blended a pounding industrial rhythm – member Will Wiffen has sometimes been seen on stage sporting a shirt that bears the logo of industrial metal pioneers Godflesh – with vintage-sounding synthesisers and a guitar line that vaguely recalls the classic Stooges track I Wanna Be Your Dog, before melting into a barrier of unsettling sound. Its intended effect, the group has mentioned, was to suggest road trips, “the endless movement of vehicles 24-hours a day over huge distances … nighttime orange glows”.
Its follow-up, Mr Invisible, falls between nightclub tunes and experimental rock. For one thing, the cut's tempo, multiple entrancing electronic parts, and lyrics that appear either psychedelically smeared or hypnotically looped in a way that brings back Dubnobasswithmyheadman-era Underworld all suggest the club floor. Alternatively, its forceful live-sounding dynamics, near-anarchic character and fuzz – “achieving a crunchy texture is a lifelong ambition,” Wiffen has said – set it apart as undeniably a band creation rather than a lone electronic artist. They've performed around south London’s DIY scene for under a year, “anywhere that will turn the PA up loud”.
But the two tracks are vibrant and distinct – from one another and contemporary releases – to prompt questions about what Ashnymph might do next. No matter what it is, on the evidence of Saltspreader and Mr Invisible, it’s sure to be engaging.
This Week’s Best New Tracks
Dry Cleaning's Hit My Head All Day
“I simply must have experiences”, singer Florence Shaw declares on her band’s beguiling return, but across six minutes – with human breath marking time – you perceive that she can’t work out why.
Azimuth by Danny L Harle with Caroline Polachek
Combining Evanescence's dark flair to peak 90s trance – including the line “and I ask the rain” – the track implies digging out your Cyberdog attire and heading south west to rave, immediately.
Acne Studios mix by Robyn
Robyn’s soundtrack for the the fashion brand's latest show hints at her next record, including gritty guitars reminiscent of Soulwax, energetic beats like Benny Benassi and the words “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.
Like That by Jordana
Critics praised her soft rock album Lively Premonition last year and the US singer-songwriter keeps displaying her remarkable skill with choruses as she expresses unrequited feelings.
Molly Nilsson – Get a Life
The independent Swedish artist dropped the record Amateur this week, and this song is remarkable: a synthetic guitar line thrusts forward rapidly as the singer urges we seize the day.
Superstar by Artemas
Following tales of weary romance on his hit single I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its overlooked mixtape Yustyna, the UK-Cypriot artist is wretchedly in thrall to his latest lover amid pulsating coldwave production.
Jennifer Walton – Miss America
Taken from a notable debut album, a crushed synth hymnal about Walton discovering her dad had died in an hotel near an airport, tracing her uncanny surroundings in tender incantations: “Shopping plaza, illegal trade, anxiety episodes.”