Flooded as we are with new artists and tunes daily, building genuine anticipation for an album release has become increasingly difficult. Even the biggest acts have resorted to surprise drops or short rollouts for new material. Our attention spans are shot, and the business model has changed to reflect that. So, why the preamble? To highlight just how refreshing it is to experience the anticipation for Heartworms‘ debut album, Glutton For Punishment, in a positively old-school way.
First appearing on our radars back in September 2022, Jojo Orme, aka Heartworms, has slowly been building her nocturnal world through a handful of singles, EPs, and high-profile support slots. The result is Glutton For Punishment, the Dan Carey (Wet Leg, Fontaines DC) produced, dark yet playful nine-track LP. It carries on a distinctly British brand of gothic music.
The material on the album is personal. Orme confronts her experience with broken homes, relationships, and humanity’s tendency to choose self-destructive paths. Chaos and punishment, universal themes the songwriter has found catharsis in exploring.
Fortunately, these heavy themes, luckily, don’t translate into a doom-and-gloom slog of a record. Instead, Heartworms’ material has become more danceable over time, blending the influence of LCD Soundsystem with seductive atmospherics similar to PJ Harvey and Siouxsie & The Banshees. Driving beats often give way to haunting post-punk guitar and wry vocals that reference blood, warplanes, and longing. Classic goth material.
The aptly titled opener, “In The Beginning,” sets the tone for the record. Distant drones and spooky synths are soon accompanied by driving electronic drums and dramatic strings, seamlessly drifting into the second track, “Just To Ask A Dance.” Melodramatic is the word—and there’s nothing wrong with that. The track leans into grandiose emotions and desires in a way that feels refreshingly rare. It is teenage bedroom angst in the best possible way: unapologetic and apocalyptic in tone.
Single “Jacked” takes things up a level, with Orme combing the bruising electronics of Nine Inch Nails with some fantastically wiry guitar licks. With 70% of lyrics comprising of the refrain, “Endless nothing turns to black,” create a vampiric floor filler. It’s unsurprising to hear a dash of the Lynchian influence on the record (RIP David).
“Extraordinary Wings” gives us that. Carey and Orme clearly drew inspiration from Lynch’s longtime collaborator, Angelo Badalamenti. They layer abrasive drums over heavily reverbed guitar and muted basslines, creating a distinctive sound. It’s mysterious, dreamlike, and undeniably one of the album’s standout tracks.
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The anthemic “Warplane” soars, with Heartworms building the tension for a minute and forty seconds before erupting into the catchiest chorus of the album. Catchy in a relative sense, of course. Things still sound chaotic and corrosive—and all the better for it.
When the album ends with the jaunty, acoustically led title track, you’re struck by how taut and confident the record sounds for a debut. Whether it was a label or artist decision, taking a few years to craft Heartworm’s sonic and aesthetic worlds carefully has resulted in a far stronger, more satisfying record.
Glutton For Punishment is a brilliant statement of intent from an exciting new artist. Jojo Orme has openly taken influence from Britain’s greatest black-clad icons and injected those influences with an exciting, contemporary energy. All hail our new queen of shadow.