Discovering this Pounding Sound and Clubby Alt-Rock of Ashnymph and This Week's Top Fresh Music
Hailing from London and Brighton
If you enjoy Underworld, MGMT, Animal Collective
Coming soon An as-yet-untitled EP, to be released in 2026
The two singles shared to date by Ashnymph are hard to categorise: their own description of their work as “subconscioussion” leaves listeners guessing. The first single Saltspreader blended a heavy mechanical drumming – bandmember Will Wiffen has at times appeared on stage in a tee that features the symbol of industrial metal pioneers Godflesh – with old-school electronic keys and a riff that vaguely recalls the Stooges’ garage rock perennial I Wanna Be Your Dog, before transforming into a barrier of unsettling sound. Its intended effect, the group has mentioned, was to suggest road trips, “the ceaseless flow of vehicles 24-hours a day over great lengths … orange lights at night”.
Its follow-up, Mr Invisible, occupies a space between club music and left-field alt-rock. On one hand, the song's beat, multiple entrancing electronic parts, and lyrics that appear either trippily blurred or hypnotically looped in a way that brings back the classic Underworld album era all suggest the dancefloor. On the other, its powerful concert-like energy, brink-of-disorder feel and fuzz – “achieving a crunchy texture is a long-term goal,” Wiffen has said – distinguish it as undeniably a band creation rather than a lone electronic artist. They've gigged around south London’s DIY scene for less than a year, “anywhere that will turn the PA up loud”.
But both are exciting and different enough – from each other and anything else around at the moment – to prompt questions about Ashnymph's upcoming moves. No matter what it is, on the basis of these two singles, it’s sure to be engaging.
The Week's Fresh Highlights
Hit My Head All Day by Dry Cleaning
“I absolutely need experiences”​, vocalist Florence Shaw states on her band’s beguiling return, but throughout the song's duration – with human breath marking time – you feel that she's unsure of the reason.
Danny L Harle's Azimuth featuring Caroline Polachek
Combining Evanescence's dark flair to classic 90s trance – including the line “and I ask the rain” – the track implies reviving your rave outfits and making your way to a rave, immediately.
Acne Studios mix by Robyn
The music by Robyn for the Swedish designer’s SS26 show previews her TBA ninth album, including driving guitar parts à la Soulwax, energetic beats like Benny Benassi and the verse “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.
Like That by Jordana
Listeners adored her soft rock album Lively Premonition last year and the American artist keeps displaying her impressive hook-crafting ability as she expresses unrequited feelings.
Molly Nilsson's Get a Life
The one-woman Swedish pop operation dropped the record Amateur this week, and this track from it is incredible: a electronic guitar part surges ahead with punk speed as Nilsson demands we seize the day.
Artemas – Superstar
Following tales of weary romance on his megahit I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its underrated parent mixtape Yustyna, the British-Cypriot star is completely captivated by his latest lover amid driving coldwave beats.
Jennifer Walton – Miss America
From one of the year’s standout debuts, a soft synth lament about Walton learning of her father’s death in an transit lodge, describing her eerie environment in tender incantations: “Shopping plaza, illegal trade, anxiety episodes.”