Diving into the Jackhammer Noise and Clubby Alt-Rock of Ashnymph and the Week's Best New Tracks
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Recommended if you like Underworld, MGMT, Animal Collective
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The pair of releases released up to now by Ashnymph defy easy classification: the band's own tag of the sound as “subconscioussion” provides few hints. Their initial track Saltspreader combined a pounding industrial rhythm – member Will Wiffen has at times appeared on stage sporting a shirt that bears the logo of Godflesh, icons of industrial metal – with vintage-sounding synthesisers and a guitar line that vaguely recalls the enduring garage rock anthem I Wanna Be Your Dog, before transforming into a barrier of unsettling sound. Its intended effect, the group has mentioned, was to conjure highway journeys, “the grinding circulation of vehicles all day long over vast spans … amber lights after dark”.
The subsequent track, the song Mr Invisible, occupies a space between club music and experimental rock. For one thing, the cut's tempo, layers of hypnotic electronics, and vocals that arrive either hallucinogenically distorted or hypnotically looped in a way that brings back the classic Underworld album era all indicate the dancefloor. On the other, its powerful concert-like energy, 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 solitary home producer. They've gigged around south London’s DIY scene for less than a year, “anywhere that will turn the PA up loud”.
But each is thrilling and unique – from one another and contemporary releases – to prompt questions about Ashnymph's upcoming moves. Regardless of the form, on the strength of these tracks, it’s probably not dull.
This Week’s Best New Tracks
Dry Cleaning – Hit My Head All Day
“I simply must have experiences”​, singer Florence Shaw declares on the group's captivating comeback, but throughout the song's duration – with breath sounds keeping rhythm – you get the sense that the motive eludes her.
Danny L Harle's Azimuth featuring Caroline Polachek
Combining Evanescence's dark flair to classic 90s trance – right down to the lyric “and I ask the rain” – the track implies dusting off your best Cyberdog wear and dancing the night away, right away.
Robyn – Acne Studios mix
Robyn's composition for the the fashion brand's latest show hints at her next record, including Soulwax-worthy grinding guitar, pulsating rhythms in the Benassi vein and the lyrics “my body’s a spaceship with the ovaries on hyperdrive”.
Jordana's Like That
Critics praised her record Lively Premonition last year and the US singer-songwriter keeps displaying her impressive hook-crafting ability as she expresses unrequited feelings.
Get a Life by Molly Nilsson
The one-woman Swedish pop operation released her latest album Amateur this week, and this track from it is remarkable: a synthetic guitar line thrusts forward rapidly 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 accompanying release Yustyna, the UK-Cypriot artist is hopelessly devoted to his current partner amid driving coldwave beats.
Jennifer Walton's Miss America
Off an impressive first record, a soft synth lament about Walton learning of her father’s death in an transit lodge, tracing her uncanny surroundings in softly sung lines: “Retail area, shady transaction, nervous fits.”