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The two singles released up to now by the group Ashnymph defy easy classification: their own description of the sound as “subconscioussion” doesn’t offer many clues. Debut Saltspreader combined a jackhammer industrial beat – guitarist Will Wiffen has at times appeared on stage wearing a T-shirt that features the symbol of industrial metal pioneers Godflesh – with vintage-sounding synthesisers and a riff that subtly echoes the classic Stooges track I Wanna Be Your Dog, before melting into a barrier of unsettling sound. Its intended effect, the band has indicated, was to suggest road trips, “the grinding circulation of vehicles 24-hours a day over great lengths … nighttime orange glows”.

The next release, the song Mr Invisible, falls between nightclub tunes and unconventional alternative rock. Firstly, the song's beat, layers of hypnotic electronics, and vocals that arrive either trippily blurred or hypnotically looped in a way that brings back Underworld's Dubnobasswithmyheadman period all indicate the dancefloor. On the other, its powerful concert-like energy, brink-of-disorder feel and distortion – “getting that crisp distortion is a personal mission,” the musician stated – set it apart as clearly a group effort rather than a bedroom-bound producer. They've gigged around the independent music circuit in south London for less than a year, “any spot with loud speakers”.

But both are exciting and different enough – from one another and other current music – to prompt questions about what Ashnymph might do next. Regardless of the form, on the evidence of Saltspreader and Mr Invisible, it’s unlikely to be boring.

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