Discovering the Jackhammer Sound and Clubby Alt-Rock of the Band Ashnymph and This Week's Top New Tracks
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The two singles put out up to now by the group Ashnymph are hard to categorise: the band's own tag of their music as “subconscioussion” doesn’t offer many clues. The first single Saltspreader blended a heavy mechanical drumming – bandmember Will Wiffen has at times appeared on stage sporting a shirt that bears the logo of Godflesh, icons of industrial metal – with old-school electronic keys and a guitar line that vaguely recalls the Stooges’ garage rock perennial I Wanna Be Your Dog, before dissolving into a mass of eerie audio. Its intended effect, the group has mentioned, was to suggest road trips, “the endless movement of vehicles 24-hours a day over vast spans … amber lights after dark”.
The next release, Mr Invisible, occupies a space between club music and experimental rock. On one hand, the track’s rhythm, layers of hypnotic electronics, and lyrics that appear either psychedelically smeared or hypnotically looped in a way that evokes Dubnobasswithmyheadman-era Underworld all point towards the club floor. Conversely, its forceful live-sounding dynamics, edge-of-chaos quality and overdrive – “getting that crisp distortion is a long-term goal,” Wiffen has said – distinguish it as very much the work of a band rather than a bedroom-bound producer. They've performed around the self-made music community of south London for a short time, “anywhere that will turn the PA up loud”.
But each is thrilling and unique – mutually and anything else around at the moment – to prompt questions about the band's future direction. Regardless of the form, on the basis of these two singles, it’s probably not dull.
Top New Music This Week
Dry Cleaning's Hit My Head All Day
“I simply must have experiences”, vocalist Florence Shaw states on her band’s beguiling return, but across six minutes – with human breath marking time – you get the sense that she can’t work out why.
Danny L Harle – Azimuth (ft Caroline Polachek)
Combining Evanescence's dark flair to classic 90s trance – including the line “and I ask the rain” – Azimuth hints at digging out your Cyberdog attire and dancing the night away, immediately.
Robyn – Acne Studios mix
Robyn’s soundtrack for the Swedish designer’s SS26 show hints at her next record, including gritty guitars reminiscent of Soulwax, energetic beats like Benny Benassi and the lyrics “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.
Jordana's Like That
Critics praised her soft rock album Lively Premonition last year and the Stateside musician keeps displaying her remarkable skill with choruses as she expresses unrequited feelings.
Molly Nilsson's Get a Life
The solo Swedish pop act released her latest album Amateur this week, and this cut is extraordinary: a synthetic guitar line surges ahead with punk speed as Nilsson demands we take control of life.
Artemas – Superstar
Post explorations of tired relationships on his smash I Like the Way You Kiss Me and its underrated parent mixtape Yustyna, the musician of mixed heritage is completely captivated by his current partner amid driving coldwave beats.
Jennifer Walton's Miss America
From one of the year’s standout debuts, a soft synth lament about the artist hearing of her father's passing in an transit lodge, describing her eerie environment in softly sung lines: “Shopping plaza, illegal trade, anxiety episodes.”