Album Review: Heartworms - 'Glutton For Punishment'
Heartworms captures the essence of post-punk sentiment in grandiose electronic form.
The project of songwriter Jojo Orme, Heartworms has picked up quite a lot of heat since their debut single in 2020, “What Can I Do”. Since then they have been the talk around every music media platform, with Dazed describing them as “the fearless new voice of British post-punk”.
With Glutton For Punishment, Orme justifies the use of this sentence, as a whole world of unique sounds caressed with some extraordinary songwriting make for an engaging yet easy listen.
Produced by highly-acclaimed Dan Carey, who previously worked on debut albums with Wet Leg, Black Midi, Fontaines D.C, and Squid, the sound design and vastly intricate mix is of no shock whatsoever. What is a novelty is perhaps the instrumentation compared to previous records Carey has worked on.
Kicking off with a 40-second long ambient introduction to this new world, “Just To Ask A Dance” follows this with a triumphant anthem which takes the feel to 100 very quickly, with its delicate string parts combined with industrial dance rhythm topped with Orme’s amazing vocals and a breathtaking ending sequence.
The record’s gothic influences are easy to see, with the following track “Jacked” kickstarted with a sombre electric guitar riff, with a similar style on “Mad Catch” which resembles something from early Depeche Mode recordings.
One of the album’s lead singles “Warplane” includes some of Heartworms’ most evoking lyricism to date, which set the scene of a dogfight whilst civilians watch the battle take place, Olme admitting: “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.”
Speaking on the album and the stirring imagery that accompanies it, she 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.”
The penultimate song “Smugglers” is also a high point on the record, as it embarks on a more guitar-driven trajectory most alike previous projects Carey worked on, especially towards the latter stages throughout its 6-minute runtime.
In essence, this record packages the incessant drive and spirit of modern post-punk into a world of electronic splendour, filled with piquant lyricism and a rich layering of otherworldly sounds.
Glutton For Punishment will be out on the 7th of February via Speedy Wunderground.
Words by Jay Cohen
