Discovering the Jackhammer Sound and Clubby Alt-Rock of Ashnymph and the Week's Best Fresh Music
Originating in London and Brighton
For fans of artists like Underworld, MGMT, or Animal Collective
On the horizon An as-yet-untitled EP, to be released in 2026
Both tracks put out so far by the group Ashnymph are hard to categorise: their personal label of their work as “subconscioussion” provides few hints. Debut Saltspreader married a pounding industrial rhythm – member Will Wiffen has at times appeared on stage wearing a T-shirt that bears the logo of the trailblazing band Godflesh – with old-school electronic keys and a guitar riff that subtly echoes the Stooges’ garage rock perennial I Wanna Be Your Dog, before melting into a mass of eerie audio. The desired impact, the group has mentioned, was to conjure highway journeys, “the grinding circulation of vehicles around the clock over great lengths … amber lights after dark”.
The next release, Mr Invisible, falls between dance music and experimental rock. Firstly, the track’s rhythm, multiple entrancing electronic parts, and singing that comes either trippily blurred or spellbindingly cyclical in a way that brings back Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman period all indicate the club floor. Conversely, its intense performance-style shifts, near-anarchic character and fuzz – “making everything sound crunchy is a personal mission,” the musician stated – mark it out as undeniably a band creation rather than a bedroom-bound producer. They’ve been playing around the self-made music community of south London for under a year, “anywhere that will turn the PA up loud”.
But the two tracks are vibrant and distinct – from each other and anything else around at the moment – to prompt questions about what Ashnymph might do next. Regardless of the form, on the strength of these tracks, it’s unlikely to be boring.
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