If you were on the hunt for Heartworms, you’d be just as likely to find Jojo Orme – the 26-year-old south London-based artist who records under that name – volunteering at Hendon’s Royal Air Force Museum as you would on stage, supporting the likes of St Vincent and Jack White. The Venn diagram overlap of hotly tipped post-punk singer and military history aficionado might be an unusual meeting point, but for Heartworms it makes complete sense. Icy and unsettling, hers is a strand of gothic noir imbued with the traumas and horrors of conflict: both literal (motorik recent single Warplane was inspired by the death of Spitfire pilot William Gibson Gordon) and within herself.
The latter are explored on her debut album, Glutton for Punishment: “We’re all so drawn to punishing ourselves, and I’m always drawn to singing about it, and thinking about it,” she has said. Produced by Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey (Fontaines DC, Wet Leg), it makes winning traits of claustrophobia and discomfort, whether on the spiky industrial dance of Jacked or the strange, glitching beauty of Extraordinary Wings. Underscored by an aesthetic that’s part first world war fighter pilot, part Edward Scissorhands (a recent press shot features Orme wearing a medieval torture device called a scold’s bridle), Heartworms is going into battle with a strong sonic arsenal on her side.
• Glutton for Punishment is released on 7 February via Speedy Wunderground. Heartworms tours the UK, 1-25 February
