🔗 Share this article

The two singles shared to date by Ashnymph resist simple labeling: their personal label of the sound as “subconscioussion” provides few hints. Their initial track Saltspreader married a jackhammer industrial beat – guitarist Will Wiffen has at times appeared on stage sporting a shirt that bears the logo of Godflesh, icons of industrial metal – with retro-style synths and a riff that partly brings to mind the classic Stooges track I Wanna Be Your Dog, before melting into a mass of eerie audio. Its intended effect, the band has indicated, was to evoke motorway travel, “the endless movement of vehicles around the clock over huge distances … amber lights after dark”.

Its follow-up, Mr Invisible, falls between nightclub tunes and left-field alt-rock. Firstly, the song's beat, multiple entrancing electronic parts, and lyrics that appear either hallucinogenically distorted or mesmerizingly repeated in a way that brings back Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman period all point towards the dancefloor. Conversely, its intense performance-style shifts, brink-of-disorder feel and fuzz – “achieving a crunchy texture is a long-term goal,” Wiffen has said – mark it out as undeniably a band creation rather than a lone electronic artist. They've gigged around the self-made music community of south London for a short time, “any spot with loud speakers”.

But each is thrilling and unique – mutually and contemporary releases – to make you wonder about the band's future direction. Regardless of the form, on the strength of these tracks, it’s unlikely to be boring.

This Week’s Best New Tracks

Dry Cleaning – Hit My Head All Day
“I simply must have experiences”​, singer Florence Shaw declares on their enchanting new track, but across six minutes – with breath sounds keeping rhythm – you get the sense that she can’t work out why.

Azimuth by Danny L Harle with Caroline Polachek
Welding Evanescence goth drama to classic 90s trance – 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, right away.

Robyn's Acne Studios mix
Robyn's composition for the Acne Studios' spring/summer 2026 presentation teases her upcoming ninth album, including driving guitar parts à la Soulwax, energetic beats like Benny Benassi and the words “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.

Jordana – Like That
We loved her soft rock album Lively Premonition last year and the Stateside musician further demonstrates her stunning facility for chorus writing as she sings about a futile crush.

Molly Nilsson's Get a Life
The solo Swedish pop act put out her new album Amateur this week, and this song is remarkable: a electronic guitar part surges ahead with punk speed as Nilsson insists we seize the day.

Artemas' Superstar
Following tales of weary romance on his smash I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its accompanying release Yustyna, the UK-Cypriot artist is completely captivated by his current partner amid icy synth-driven sound.

Miss America by Jennifer Walton
From one of the year’s standout debuts, a crushed synth hymnal about the artist hearing of her father's passing in an airport hotel, describing her eerie environment in softly sung lines: “Retail area, shady transaction, nervous fits.”