Hailing from the UK cities of London and Brighton
Recommended if you like artists like Underworld, MGMT, or Animal Collective
Up next An as-yet-untitled EP, to be released in 2026
The two singles put out up to now by the group Ashnymph are hard to categorise: the band's own tag of their work as “subconscioussion” provides few hints. The first single Saltspreader married a heavy mechanical drumming – bandmember Will Wiffen has sometimes been seen on stage wearing a T-shirt that features the symbol of Godflesh, icons of industrial metal – with old-school electronic keys and a guitar riff that vaguely recalls the Stooges’ garage rock perennial I Wanna Be Your Dog, before dissolving into a mass of eerie audio. The desired impact, the group has mentioned, was to evoke motorway travel, “the endless movement of vehicles 24-hours a day over vast spans … amber lights after dark”.
The subsequent track, Mr Invisible, sits somewhere between club music and unconventional alternative rock. Firstly, the track’s rhythm, layers of hypnotic electronics, and singing that comes either psychedelically smeared or mesmerizingly repeated in a way that brings back the classic Underworld album era all point towards the club floor. Conversely, its forceful live-sounding dynamics, near-anarchic character and overdrive – “getting that crisp distortion is a long-term goal,” Wiffen has said – distinguish it as clearly a group effort rather than a solitary home producer. They've performed around the independent music circuit in south London for a short time, “any venue that cranks the volume”.
But both are exciting and different enough – mutually and other current music – to make you wonder about Ashnymph's upcoming moves. Regardless of the form, on the evidence of Saltspreader and Mr Invisible, 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 their enchanting new track, but over six minutes – with exhales setting the pace – you feel that she can’t work out why.
Danny L Harle – Azimuth (ft Caroline Polachek)
Welding Evanescence goth drama to the height of trance music – including the line “and I ask the rain” – Azimuth hints at digging out your Cyberdog attire and heading south west to rave, right away.
Acne Studios mix by Robyn
Robyn's composition for the Swedish designer’s SS26 show teases her upcoming ninth album, including driving guitar parts à la Soulwax, pulsating rhythms in the Benassi vein and the words “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.
Like That by Jordana
We loved her soft rock album Lively Premonition last year and the US singer-songwriter further demonstrates her stunning facility for chorus writing as she laments her latest hopeless infatuation.
Molly Nilsson – Get a Life
The independent Swedish artist released her latest album Amateur this week, and this song is extraordinary: a synthetic guitar line surges ahead with punk speed as Nilsson demands we seize the day.
Artemas' Superstar
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 completely captivated by his new flame amid icy synth-driven sound.
Jennifer Walton – Miss America
From one of the year’s standout debuts, a crushed synth hymnal about the artist hearing of her father's passing in an transit lodge, describing her eerie environment in gentle refrains: “Retail area, shady transaction, nervous fits.”
