Glutton For Punishment. Heartworms

Heartworms debuted on this blog a few weeks ago with its single 'Extraordinary Wings'. The single certainly made me want to hear more and here we are. Glutton For Punishment delivers and so much more. The London based musical project of Jo Jo Orme covers a lot of territory. As she writes on her Bandcamp page: "With my EP, people kind of pigeonholed me into post-punk. I was like, Cool, I can do that, but I can also do way more". So she may have surprised, perhaps even shocked some people. As I'm new to her music, she caught me totally with fresh ears as far as her music is concerned.

For Glutton For Punishment Orme worked with producer Dan Carey and then you've managed to snare a big name for your debut record. It says something about him believing in a new voice but also in her music. The individual songs are all but forced to go into one direction. Artistic freedom is a great thing but in music it may be harder and harder to get with ten people working on the parts of the hits of the day. Carey may have had a steering role but not towards conformity.

I will refrain from singling out each and every individual song. For that Glutton For Punishment is far too much a whole. What I will do is point out that one song can be fully postpunk anger but another an electronic ballad over which Jo Jo Orme's voice seems to be soaring. In short, she surprises each and every song. Yes, I prefer one song over another, but as a whole this album works, totally.

Okay, one example. Take single 'Extraordinary Wings'. It starts out as a bare song with an electronic beat under it. Then start listening how it slowly builds and builds into a song of epic proportions. Also, listen to all the different voices the singer brings to the song. Then it all drops away leaving the voice bare. 'Extraordinary Wings' is an impressive song.

The single is an individual version of the whole album. Heartworms takes you on a musical adventure that surprises and endears. Heartworms caught me alright.

Wout de Natris - van der Borght

You can listen to and order Glutton For Punishment here:

https://iamheartworms.bandcamp.com/album/glutton-for-punishment