Exploring the Pounding Sound and Dancefloor Alt-Rock of Ashnymph and the Week's Best New Tracks

Based in London and Brighton
For fans of Underworld, MGMT, Animal Collective
On the horizon A new EP planned for 2026, currently without a title

Both tracks released to date by the group Ashnymph are hard to categorise: their own description of the sound as “subconscioussion” provides few hints. Debut Saltspreader combined a pounding industrial rhythm – member Will Wiffen has at times appeared on stage sporting a shirt that features the symbol of industrial metal pioneers Godflesh – with retro-style synths and a riff that vaguely recalls the enduring garage rock anthem I Wanna Be Your Dog, before transforming into a barrier of unsettling sound. The planned result, the band has indicated, was to suggest road trips, “the endless movement of vehicles around the clock over huge distances … orange lights at night”.

The next release, Mr Invisible, sits somewhere between nightclub tunes and experimental rock. On one hand, the cut's tempo, strata of mesmerizing synths, and singing that comes either psychedelically smeared or mesmerizingly repeated in a way that evokes Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman period all indicate the dance space. On the other, its intense performance-style shifts, brink-of-disorder feel and overdrive – “making everything sound crunchy is a long-term goal,” Wiffen noted – set it apart as undeniably a band creation rather than a lone electronic artist. They’ve been playing around the self-made music community of south London for less than a year, “anywhere that will turn the PA up loud”.

But both are exciting and different enough – from each other and anything else around at the moment – to spark curiosity about the band's future direction. Whatever it is, on the strength of these tracks, it’s sure to be engaging.

Top New Music This Week

Hit My Head All Day by Dry Cleaning
“I absolutely need experiences”​, singer Florence Shaw declares on the group's captivating comeback, but over six minutes – with human breath marking time – you feel that she's unsure of the reason.

Azimuth by Danny L Harle with Caroline Polachek
Welding Evanescence goth drama to classic 90s trance – including the line “and I ask the rain” – Azimuth suggests dusting off your best Cyberdog wear and making your way to a rave, right away.

Acne Studios mix by Robyn
Robyn’s soundtrack for the Acne Studios' spring/summer 2026 presentation previews her TBA ninth album, including Soulwax-worthy grinding guitar, pulsating rhythms in the Benassi vein and the lyrics “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.

Like That by Jordana
Critics praised her album Lively Premonition last year and the American artist further demonstrates her stunning facility for chorus writing as she expresses unrequited feelings.

Molly Nilsson's Get a Life
The one-woman Swedish pop operation released her latest album Amateur this week, and this cut is incredible: a synthetic guitar line surges ahead with punk speed as Nilsson insists we take control of life.

Superstar by Artemas
Post explorations of tired relationships on his megahit I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its underrated parent mixtape Yustyna, the British-Cypriot star is completely captivated by his current partner amid pulsating coldwave production.

Jennifer Walton's Miss America
From one of the year’s standout debuts, a delicate electronic ballad about Walton learning of her father’s death in an hotel near an airport, mapping the strange setting in tender incantations: “Shopping plaza, illegal trade, anxiety episodes.”

Gregory Bailey
Gregory Bailey

Elena is a seasoned immigration consultant with over a decade of experience in UK visa processes, dedicated to helping applicants navigate complex requirements.