Discovering this Pounding Noise and Clubby Alternative Rock of the Band Ashnymph and This Week's Top New Tracks

Hailing from the UK cities of London and Brighton
If you enjoy Underworld, MGMT, Animal Collective
On the horizon An as-yet-untitled EP, to be released in 2026

The two singles put out to date by Ashnymph defy easy classification: their personal label of their music as “subconscioussion” leaves listeners guessing. Debut Saltspreader blended a heavy mechanical drumming – member Will Wiffen has at times appeared on stage sporting a shirt that displays the emblem of the trailblazing band Godflesh – with vintage-sounding synthesisers and a guitar line that partly brings to mind the enduring garage rock anthem I Wanna Be Your Dog, before melting into a mass of eerie audio. The desired impact, the group has mentioned, was to suggest road trips, “the endless movement of vehicles around the clock over vast spans … amber lights after dark”.

The next release, Mr Invisible, sits somewhere between nightclub tunes and unconventional alternative rock. For one thing, the song's beat, strata of mesmerizing synths, and lyrics that appear either trippily blurred or mesmerizingly repeated in a way that brings back Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman period all point towards the dance space. Alternatively, its powerful concert-like energy, brink-of-disorder feel and overdrive – “making everything sound crunchy is a personal mission,” Wiffen has said – set it apart as undeniably a band creation rather than a solitary home producer. They’ve been playing around south London’s DIY scene for under a year, “any venue that cranks the volume”.

But each is thrilling and unique – from one another and contemporary releases – to spark curiosity about the band's future direction. Regardless of the form, on the basis of these two singles, it’s sure to be engaging.

The Week's Fresh Highlights

Dry Cleaning – Hit My Head All Day
“I really require adventures”​, singer Florence Shaw declares on her band’s beguiling return, but across six minutes – with breath sounds keeping rhythm – you perceive that she can’t work out why.

Danny L Harle – Azimuth (ft Caroline Polachek)
Merging gothic intensity to the height of trance music – even the words “and I ask the rain” – the track implies dusting off your best Cyberdog wear and dancing the night away, stat.

Robyn – Acne Studios mix
The music by Robyn for the the fashion brand's latest show hints at her next record, including gritty guitars reminiscent of Soulwax, Benny Benassi-style thrust and the words “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.

Jordana – Like That
We loved her record Lively Premonition last year and the Stateside musician keeps displaying her impressive hook-crafting ability as she laments her latest hopeless infatuation.

Molly Nilsson – Get a Life
The independent Swedish artist dropped the record Amateur this week, and this song is extraordinary: a synthetic guitar line jerks forward at hardcore punk pace as Nilsson demands we seize the day.

Artemas' Superstar
After documenting jaded love and sex on his hit single I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its underrated parent mixtape Yustyna, the musician of mixed heritage is completely captivated by his latest lover amid driving coldwave beats.

Miss America by Jennifer Walton
Off an impressive first record, a delicate electronic ballad about Walton discovering her dad had died in an airport hotel, tracing her uncanny surroundings in gentle refrains: “Shopping plaza, illegal trade, anxiety episodes.”

Melissa Sheppard
Melissa Sheppard

A passionate writer and life coach dedicated to helping others achieve their dreams through storytelling and actionable advice.