Album Review: Glutton for Punishment by Heartworms

Heartworms' debut album, Glutton For Punishment, follows her electrifying single, "May I Comply," and tantalizing EP, A Comforting Notion, which both made a splash in 2023. The new album is an excellent extension of the haunting and exhilarating rock heard on those releases and is an absolutely perfect cannonball featuring vibrant sounds, dynamic arrangements, and equally striking vocals. Jojo Orme, the mastermind behind the project, weaves a tapestry of post-punk, goth, and industrial influences into an unusually ambitious debut LP that is both raw and polished and contains a whirlwind of sound with brooding synth melodies, catchy beats, softly soaring guitar riffs, and moody sonic textures.

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Nothing if not cathartic, Jojo Orme has crafted something that is oppressive, expressive, yet wildly catchy When Heartworms first appeared, Jojo Orme was being described as decidedly "post-punk". Looking back at those recordings, and to a much lesser degree, those on Glutton For Punishment, you can see how she was quickly pigeonholed. There’s occasional spidery guitar riffs, a driving, spiky feel to her song structures, and a punchy, funky bass that pushes its way to the front.

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A building set of synth pads and rhythms form regimental layers and the familiar, yet off-kilter, beats of "Just To Ask A Dance" propel the album forward. Glutton For Punishment is the debut album from Jojo Orme, the South London musician known as Heartworms, who has been steadily carving a niche in the post-punk landscape with her evocative storytelling and distinctive soundscapes. It marks a significant evolution from her earlier work, showcasing a composition and narrative depth maturation.

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When an album begins with 41 seconds of near silence - a track on which little more than atmospheric rumblings and whipping wind is audible - it's evident that its author is out to execute something very specific indeed. Taking cues from the warcraft and military garb she initially built her image around, Josephine Orme (aka Heartworms) has crafted her debut with the utmost precision - not a screw, not a stitch, not a note out of place. The biblical nothingness of opener 'In The Beginning', then, serves as an intentionally stark primer, a palette-cleansing carte blanche for Orme to assert that, though 2023 EP 'A Comforting Notion' may have introduced her as an artist, we ain't seen nothing yet.

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Jojo Orme, the solo face behind Heartworms, made quite an entrance with her 2023 EP, A Comforting Notion and she's now here with her debut album, Glutton For Punishment. Despite toned-down military regalia, which she's swapped to vaguely resemble a goth cardinal of sorts, she's just as effusive about war history on her debut. The album builds on what we were starting to glean from Orme's message as an artist - that when confronted with martial themes, we might recognise the inherent discord present in our own lives.

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You'd be forgiven for seeing the stark, black-and-white artwork of 'Glutton For Punishment' and assuming it contains a much gnarlier or darker set of music than it does. Its provocative title echoes industrial music's aesthetic obsession with BDSM imagery; the kind of phrase Depeche Mode or Nine Inch Nails would have utilised back in the mid-1990s. 'Glutton For Punishment' is painted in dark hues, but its electro, industrial and post-punk blend is an impressively vibrant and straight-up fun listening experience, rife with kinetic rhythms and strong choruses that worm their way into your brain once they've conquered your heart.

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