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. That maybe war (with a capital ‘W’) is an amplification of all the tiny wars that play out across someone’s life, whether internal or external. And if you’ve had many of them, it might be difficult to detach from becoming what the title suggests – a glutton for punishment, which Orme delves into here.
The opener, ‘Just To Ask A Dance’, is instantly gripping and cinematic in the style of a military thriller. Underneath that initially terrifying start, however, is a confessional love song. Orme swoons, “I don’t have a chance / To ask for a dance from you / I’m so shy it pains me,” which prompts the question, “Who is this bashful Jojo Orme?” The same woman I had seen last year popping it on stage like the long-lost lovechild of Michael Jackson and Siouxsie Sioux?
But there’s no time to dwell, because it’s right into ‘Jacked’, instantly recognisable by its high-anxiety guitar, almost mimicking that of a whirling helicopter, before it turns into a melodic riff. The video for this single is a short film directed by Gilbert Trejo who has worked on her other videos, all of which are characteristically monochrome. Orme’s theatrical flair, and willingness to apply gallows humour to herself and this song, cuts through this heavy material about a descent into delirium.
On ‘Mad Catch’, you can hear Orme’s minimalist dance influences and a euphonic choice of words as infectious as the song itself, “Match made in a hat / Where’s the magic in that? / It’s a mad mad catch.” A song about another romantic discontent – the hollow, repetitive world of online dating. It’s playful and danceable with an LCD Soundsystem influence diced through it.
The arch of the album consists of ‘Extraordinary Wings’, and ‘Warplane’. The former is a much more gentle, anti-war ode where Orme’s vocals twist around words sensitively. ‘Warplane’ is a dramatic homage to a slice of history. She tells the story of William Gibson Gordon, a young Spitfire pilot who died, barely an adult, during WWII. It’s a higher-tempo propulsive frenzy, as we zoom towards the skies with Orme (and a choir of nuns), only to be met with absolute tragedy in its mournful coda.
The closing two tracks are tonally very different to the rest of the record. A highlight is ‘Smugglers’, which begins with a lowkey guitar arpeggio, alongside Orme’s tormented vocals. It then leads into a surge of grungey teenage energy with Riot Grrrl undertones. It’s perfectly aligned with the difficult upbringing she sings about here and of which she spoke to tQ about last year.
Glutton For Punishment is more revealing than expected but beats with the same black heart we heard on her EP. There are songs focussed on Orme’s past, her ordinary obsessions and frustrations, and her perspective on history. There’s an intrigue which lies in the way these are threaded together and you can hear the many musical influences at work which create a distinctive and well-crafted album.
