🔗 Share this article

Both tracks released to date by the group Ashnymph defy easy classification: the band's own tag of the sound as “subconscioussion” provides few hints. The first single Saltspreader blended a pounding industrial rhythm – member Will Wiffen has at times appeared on stage wearing a T-shirt that displays the emblem of industrial metal pioneers Godflesh – with vintage-sounding synthesisers and a guitar line that vaguely recalls the Stooges’ garage rock perennial I Wanna Be Your Dog, before transforming into a wall of disquieting noise. The desired impact, the band has indicated, was to suggest road trips, “the grinding circulation of vehicles 24-hours a day over great lengths … amber lights after dark”.

The next release, Mr Invisible, occupies a space between nightclub tunes and experimental rock. Firstly, the song's beat, layers of hypnotic electronics, and singing that comes either hallucinogenically distorted or hypnotically looped in a way that recalls the classic Underworld album era all point towards the dance space. Alternatively, its intense performance-style shifts, edge-of-chaos quality and overdrive – “getting that crisp distortion is a long-term goal,” Wiffen has said – distinguish it as undeniably a band creation rather than a lone electronic artist. They've performed around south London’s DIY scene for less than a year, “any venue that cranks the volume”.

But the two tracks are vibrant and distinct – from each other and other current music – to make you wonder about Ashnymph's upcoming moves. Regardless of the form, on the basis of these two singles, it’s probably not dull.

The Week's Fresh Highlights

Hit My Head All Day by Dry Cleaning
“I really require adventures”​, vocalist Florence Shaw states on their enchanting new track, but throughout the song's duration – with breath sounds keeping rhythm – you feel that she's unsure of the reason.

Danny L Harle – Azimuth (ft Caroline Polachek)
Merging gothic intensity to the height of trance music – even the words “and I ask the rain” – Azimuth hints at dusting off your best Cyberdog wear and heading south west to rave, right away.

Acne Studios mix by Robyn
Robyn's composition for the Acne Studios' spring/summer 2026 presentation teases her upcoming ninth album, including gritty guitars reminiscent of Soulwax, pulsating rhythms in the Benassi vein 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 Stateside musician continues to show off her remarkable skill with choruses as she sings about a futile crush.

Molly Nilsson – Get a Life
The one-woman Swedish pop operation put out her new album Amateur this week, and this cut is incredible: a electronic guitar part jerks forward at hardcore punk pace as Nilsson insists we take control of life.

Artemas' Superstar
Following tales of weary romance on his smash I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its overlooked mixtape Yustyna, the musician of mixed heritage is hopelessly devoted to his new flame amid icy synth-driven sound.

Jennifer Walton – Miss America
Off an impressive first record, a delicate electronic ballad about the artist hearing of her father's passing in an transit lodge, describing her eerie environment in tender incantations: “Strip mall, drug deal, panic attacks.”