Discovering this Pounding Noise and Dancefloor Alt-Rock of Ashnymph and This Week's Top Fresh Music
Originating in London and Brighton
Recommended if you like Underworld, MGMT, Animal Collective
Coming soon An as-yet-untitled EP, to be released in 2026
The pair of releases shared to date by the group Ashnymph are hard to categorise: their own description of the sound as “subconscioussion” provides few hints. Their initial track Saltspreader married a heavy mechanical drumming – bandmember Will Wiffen has occasionally been spotted on stage wearing a T-shirt that features the symbol of Godflesh, icons of industrial metal – with vintage-sounding synthesisers and a guitar line that vaguely recalls the classic Stooges track I Wanna Be Your Dog, before melting into a wall of disquieting noise. The planned result, the band has indicated, was to conjure highway journeys, “the endless movement of vehicles all day long over huge distances … orange lights at night”.
The next release, the song Mr Invisible, occupies a space between nightclub tunes and left-field alt-rock. Firstly, the cut's tempo, strata of mesmerizing synths, and singing that comes either hallucinogenically distorted or spellbindingly cyclical in a way that recalls Dubnobasswithmyheadman-era Underworld all indicate the club floor. Alternatively, its powerful concert-like energy, near-anarchic character and fuzz – “making everything sound crunchy is a long-term goal,” Wiffen has said – set it apart as undeniably a band creation rather than a bedroom-bound producer. They've gigged around south London’s DIY scene for a short time, “any spot with loud speakers”.
But each is thrilling and unique – from each other and contemporary releases – to make you wonder about what Ashnymph might do next. Whatever it is, on the strength of these tracks, it’s probably not dull.
The Week's Fresh Highlights
Dry Cleaning – Hit My Head All Day
“I really require adventures”, Florence Shaw decides on their enchanting new track, but across six minutes – with human breath marking time – you perceive that she's unsure of the reason.
Azimuth by Danny L Harle with Caroline Polachek
Merging gothic intensity to the height of trance music – right down to the lyric “and I ask the rain” – the track implies dusting off your best Cyberdog wear and making your way to a rave, stat.
Robyn's Acne Studios mix
Robyn's composition for the Acne Studios' spring/summer 2026 presentation previews her TBA ninth album, including gritty guitars reminiscent of Soulwax, energetic beats like Benny Benassi and the verse “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.
Jordana – Like That
Critics praised her soft rock album Lively Premonition last year and the Stateside musician further demonstrates her stunning facility for chorus writing as she laments her latest hopeless infatuation.
Molly Nilsson – Get a Life
The one-woman Swedish pop operation released her latest album Amateur this week, and this track from it is extraordinary: a electronic guitar part jerks forward at hardcore punk pace as Nilsson demands we grab life by the scruff of the neck.
Superstar by Artemas
Post explorations of tired relationships on his megahit I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its accompanying release Yustyna, the UK-Cypriot artist is wretchedly in thrall to his latest lover amid icy synth-driven sound.
Miss America by Jennifer Walton
From one of the year’s standout debuts, a soft synth lament about Walton learning of her father’s death in an transit lodge, tracing her uncanny surroundings in gentle refrains: “Strip mall, drug deal, panic attacks.”