Heartworms
Announce Debut Album
Out February 7 via Speedy Wunderground
Share New Single & Video “Warplane”
Formidable South London auteur Heartworms has today announced her highly anticipated debut album Glutton For Punishment – out February 7 on Speedy Wunderground. She has also shared the brand new single “Warplane” taken from it, and an accompanying video directed by Gilbert Trejo.
“Warplane” is a blistering new offering which includes some of Heartworms’ most evoking lyricism to date that conjures striking images of the horrors of warfare combined with her passion for military history. Expanding on the single, Heartworms says: “The opening lyrics set the scene of a dogfight in the air while civilians are witnessing it take shape. My imagination is always out of my control, and my love of Spitfires even more so, so I couldn’t help but make this about a spitfire pilot.”
“I am dedicating this to William Gibson Gordon – a Spitfire pilot who was killed in action by an Me109 at just 20 years old. The song ends how I imagine his falling Spitfire sounds to me, like an angel losing its extraordinary wings.”
Speaking on the album and the stirring imagery that accompanies it, Heartworms explains: “I’ve been chastised my whole life; made to feel as if I didn’t belong, punished for not fitting into a perfect image of how a growing woman should be. When you’re told something enough times you start to believe it. I often find myself locked into an unhealthy cycle of craving harsh discipline, greedy for the familiarity it brings but terrified of the consequences – better the devil you know. But this album doesn’t just reflect my own experiences; it reflects those of the people in my life and the stories of others that I think need to be heard.”
“Gilbert Trejo and I were lucky enough to enlist the help of an incredible blacksmith called Gus Baldwin. I’m wearing his ‘Brutal Bridle’, a take on the scold’s bridle, a mediaeval instrument of punishment intended to publicly humiliate and silence women.”
Gilbert Trejo adds: “For the video of Warplane I kept thinking of Jojo as Ares watching William Wyler’s [1942 film] Mrs. Miniver. Standing over this horrible war and experiencing the loss herself. She’d told me the story of William Gibson Gordon, and seeing how the death of this young man nearly 100 years ago moved her, was touching. It was like she was there”
Intoxicating and innovative, Heartworms continue to captivate and delve into these immense soundscapes that combine cutting tones and the massive vocal range of this formidable artist. As stirring as the exploration is, this is mirrored in the accompanying visuals.
Heartworms create a track that brings a level of dramatic brutality referenced in the complex layers of the orchestration, and this is partnered with the theatrical vocal harmonies that flourish and showcase such a range from start to finish.
Heartworms create this pure chaos in their vision, dark and cryptic passages enthral this sense of urgency and in turn, agitate the listener to embrace the uncertainty of their world. With the new single, this powerful soundscape causes havoc whilst the vocal harmonies and the range they offer, bring a sense of stability and peace into the voyage despite offering up equally brooding lyrics. But this track brings a completely new direction with the elevated notes.
This new single feels even more powerful than what has come before, lacing with this poppier percussion and sublime chorus, it’s a track that embraces this accessible essence.
Produced by longtime collaborator Dan Carey, Glutton For Punishment combines the propulsive, motorik tendencies of gothic stalwarts Depeche Mode, with the lyrical dexterity of PJ Harvey, and the off-kilter rhythms of LCD Soundsystem into a powerful sonic onslaught that is entirely Heartworms. “With my EP, people kind of pigeonholed me into post-punk,” she says. “I was like, ‘Cool, I can do that, but I can also do way more’ – I can do post-punk, but I can also be poppy and catchy, and this album represents that. I think people might be surprised when they hear it.”
Heartworms’ debut EP A Comforting Notion was subject to critical acclaim from the likes of Dazed, Brooklyn Vegan, Under the Radar Magazine, The FADER, The Quietus, Loud and Quiet, The Line of Best Fit, So Young Magazine, and many more. The EPs singles were added to the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist following widespread support across the station, as well as spot plays from Radio X’s John Kennedy, and BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders and Gemma Bradley.
Earlier this year Heartworms supported The Kills in the U.S., St Vincent in the UK (which included the Royal Albert Hall), and Jack White at London’s Islington Assembly Hall.
With the news of Glutton For Punishment now out in the world, the future is Heartworms’ for the taking.
When it came time for Jojo Orme, aka Heartworms, to name her hugely anticipated debut album, few phrases could as easily capture the discomforting feelings at the heart of her songs. Across Glutton For Punishment’s nine sharply realised agit-pop tracks, Orme sings about broken families and broken relationships with bracing frankness – every song shot through with the unnerving feeling that maybe she enjoys the chaos. “We’re all so drawn to punishing ourselves, and I’m always drawn to singing about it, and thinking about it,” she says.
The follow-up to her acclaimed 2023 EP A Comforting Notion, Glutton For Punishment reveals Orme as a talented stylist and cutting lyricist, the 26-year-old musician deftly weaving stories about her childhood and her fractured relationship with her mother with the images of war and human suffering that have captivated and shocked her since she was young. The end result is a life affirming exercise, an opportunity to expel her own self and passions; which include military history (she regularly volunteers at The Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon) and the poetry of Pound, Thomas, and Keats.
1. In The Beginning
2. Just To Ask A Dance
3. Jacked
4. Mad Catch
5. Extraordinary Wings
6. Warplane
7. Celebrate
8. Smuggler’s Adventure
9. Glutton For Punishment
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