🔗 Share this article

Both tracks shared so far by Ashnymph defy easy classification: their own description of the sound as “subconscioussion” provides few hints. The first single Saltspreader married a pounding industrial rhythm – member Will Wiffen has occasionally been spotted on stage wearing a T-shirt that features the symbol of the trailblazing band Godflesh – with old-school electronic keys and a guitar riff that partly brings to mind the classic Stooges track I Wanna Be Your Dog, before melting into a wall of disquieting noise. Its intended effect, the band has indicated, was to suggest road trips, “the grinding circulation of vehicles all day long over huge distances … amber lights after dark”.

The subsequent track, the song Mr Invisible, occupies a space between dance music and left-field alt-rock. For one thing, the cut's tempo, strata of mesmerizing synths, and singing that comes either hallucinogenically distorted or hypnotically looped in a way that evokes Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman period all point towards the dance space. On the other, its forceful live-sounding dynamics, edge-of-chaos quality and fuzz – “getting that crisp distortion is a lifelong ambition,” Wiffen has said – mark it out as very much the work of a band rather than a lone electronic artist. They’ve been playing around the self-made music community of south London for less than a year, “any spot with loud speakers”.

But each is thrilling and unique – from one another and contemporary releases – to prompt questions about the band's future direction. No matter what it is, on the evidence of Saltspreader and Mr Invisible, it’s probably not dull.

The Week's Fresh Highlights

Hit My Head All Day by Dry Cleaning
“I absolutely need experiences”​, vocalist Florence Shaw states on the group's captivating comeback, but over six minutes – with human breath marking time – you perceive that the motive eludes her.

Danny L Harle – Azimuth (ft Caroline Polachek)
Combining Evanescence's dark flair to the height of trance music – including the line “and I ask the rain” – Azimuth hints at reviving your rave outfits and heading south west to rave, immediately.

Robyn – Acne Studios mix
Robyn's composition for the Swedish designer’s SS26 show previews her TBA 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's Like That
Listeners adored her soft rock album Lively Premonition last year and the Stateside musician continues to show off her stunning facility for chorus writing as she laments her latest hopeless infatuation.

Get a Life by Molly Nilsson
The one-woman Swedish pop operation put out her new album Amateur this week, and this cut is extraordinary: a electronic guitar part thrusts forward rapidly as Nilsson demands we take control of life.

Artemas' Superstar
Following tales of weary romance on his megahit I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its accompanying release Yustyna, the musician of mixed heritage is completely captivated by his current partner amid pulsating coldwave production.

Miss America by Jennifer Walton
Off an impressive first record, a crushed synth hymnal about Walton learning of her father’s death in an transit lodge, mapping the strange setting in softly sung lines: “Strip mall, drug deal, panic attacks.”