Exploring the Jackhammer Noise and Dancefloor Alt-Rock of Ashnymph and the Week's Top Fresh Music

Based in London and Brighton
Recommended if you like artists like Underworld, MGMT, or Animal Collective
Coming soon A new EP planned for 2026, currently without a title

The two singles put out so far by Ashnymph are hard to categorise: the band's own tag of the sound as “subconscioussion” provides few hints. Their initial track Saltspreader combined a jackhammer industrial beat – bandmember Will Wiffen has sometimes been seen on stage sporting a shirt that bears the logo of the trailblazing band Godflesh – with retro-style synths and a riff that subtly echoes the classic Stooges track I Wanna Be Your Dog, before transforming into a barrier of unsettling sound. Its intended effect, the band has indicated, was to conjure highway journeys, “the grinding circulation of vehicles around the clock over vast spans … orange lights at night”.

The subsequent track, Mr Invisible, occupies a space between nightclub tunes and left-field alt-rock. For one thing, the track’s rhythm, layers of hypnotic electronics, and singing that comes either psychedelically smeared or spellbindingly cyclical in a way that recalls Dubnobasswithmyheadman-era Underworld all suggest the dance space. Conversely, its intense performance-style shifts, brink-of-disorder feel and overdrive – “making everything sound crunchy is a long-term goal,” Wiffen noted – mark it out as very much the work of a band rather than a solitary home producer. They've performed around the independent music circuit in south London for a short time, “anywhere that will turn the PA up loud”.

But the two tracks are vibrant and distinct – from one another and other current music – to prompt questions about Ashnymph's upcoming moves. Whatever it is, on the evidence of Saltspreader and Mr Invisible, it’s unlikely to be boring.

Top New Music This Week

Hit My Head All Day by Dry Cleaning
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Danny L Harle's Azimuth featuring Caroline Polachek
Combining Evanescence's dark flair to peak 90s trance – including the line “and I ask the rain” – Azimuth hints at reviving your rave outfits and making your way to a rave, immediately.

Acne Studios mix by Robyn
Robyn’s soundtrack for the Acne Studios' spring/summer 2026 presentation hints at her next record, including Soulwax-worthy grinding guitar, Benny Benassi-style thrust and the verse “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.

Jordana's Like That
Listeners adored her album Lively Premonition last year and the US singer-songwriter keeps displaying her stunning facility for chorus writing as she laments her latest hopeless infatuation.

Molly Nilsson – Get a Life
The solo Swedish pop act dropped the record Amateur this week, and this song is extraordinary: a synth-guitar melody surges ahead with punk speed as Nilsson demands we seize the day.

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

Miss America by Jennifer Walton
From one of the year’s standout debuts, a crushed synth hymnal about Walton discovering her dad had died in an transit lodge, mapping the strange setting in tender incantations: “Shopping plaza, illegal trade, anxiety episodes.”

Jonathan Murray
Jonathan Murray

A tech enthusiast and digital marketer with over 10 years of experience, passionate about sharing innovative ideas and practical advice.