Diving into this Pounding Noise and Dancefloor Alternative Rock of the Band Ashnymph and the Week's Top New Tracks

Originating in the UK cities of London and Brighton
Recommended if you like artists like Underworld, MGMT, or Animal Collective
On the horizon An as-yet-untitled EP, to be released in 2026

Both tracks shared to date by the group Ashnymph are hard to categorise: their personal label of their music as “subconscioussion” leaves listeners guessing. Their initial track Saltspreader married a pounding industrial rhythm – bandmember Will Wiffen has occasionally been spotted on stage wearing a T-shirt that bears the logo of Godflesh, icons of industrial metal – with vintage-sounding synthesisers and a guitar line that subtly echoes the classic Stooges track I Wanna Be Your Dog, before transforming into a mass of eerie audio. Its intended effect, the group has mentioned, was to conjure highway journeys, “the ceaseless flow of vehicles around the clock over great lengths … orange lights at night”.

The subsequent track, Mr Invisible, sits somewhere between club music and unconventional alternative rock. Firstly, the song's beat, strata of mesmerizing synths, and lyrics that appear either hallucinogenically distorted or hypnotically looped in a way that evokes the classic Underworld album era all point towards the dancefloor. Conversely, its powerful concert-like energy, brink-of-disorder feel and fuzz – “achieving a crunchy texture is a long-term goal,” Wiffen has said – mark it out as very much the work of a band rather than a bedroom-bound producer. They've gigged around the independent music circuit in south London for less than a year, “any spot with loud speakers”.

But each is thrilling and unique – mutually and anything else around at the moment – to prompt questions about the band's future direction. Whatever it is, on the strength of these tracks, it’s unlikely to be boring.

Top New Music This Week

Hit My Head All Day by Dry Cleaning
“I simply must have experiences”​, singer Florence Shaw declares on their enchanting new track, but across six minutes – with human breath marking time – you get the sense that the motive eludes her.

Danny L Harle's Azimuth featuring Caroline Polachek
Welding Evanescence goth drama to classic 90s trance – including the line “and I ask the rain” – Azimuth hints at dusting off your best Cyberdog wear and dancing the night away, immediately.

Robyn – Acne Studios mix
Robyn’s soundtrack for the Swedish designer’s SS26 show teases her upcoming ninth album, including driving guitar parts à la Soulwax, energetic beats like Benny Benassi 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 Stateside musician further demonstrates her stunning facility for chorus writing as she sings about a futile crush.

Get a Life by Molly Nilsson
The independent Swedish artist released her latest album Amateur this week, and this cut is incredible: a synth-guitar melody jerks forward at hardcore punk pace as the singer urges we take control of life.

Artemas – Superstar
After documenting jaded love and sex on his smash I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its accompanying release Yustyna, the musician of mixed heritage is hopelessly devoted to his new flame amid pulsating coldwave production.

Miss America by Jennifer Walton
Off an impressive first record, a delicate electronic ballad about Walton discovering her dad had died in an transit lodge, describing her eerie environment in softly sung lines: “Retail area, shady transaction, nervous fits.”

Joshua Sanders
Joshua Sanders

A seasoned journalist with a passion for uncovering stories that shape society, based in London.