Heartworms - Glutton for Punishment
Post-punk – Released February 7, 2025 – 9 songs, 37 mins
LUNDI
The beauty of TSR is on full display this week. In our process to determine which record was selected to get a deep dive written review we had three options: the artist with 1.8 million monthly listens, the artist with 500k monthly listens, or the artist with less than 100k monthly listens. Now none of these are even close to Billie Eilish’s 110 million listens per month, but we ultimately chose the artist with the fewest, and honestly in the quality comparison it wasn’t really close. Not everyone wants to spend time digging at the bottom of the barrel to find the next best thing, but the cream often rises to the top, we here at Too Sweet Reviews just like to find the greats before the spotlight hits. Hello to Jojo Orme, aka Heartworms. Her debut album Glutton for Punishment is out now, and it is fantastic. Let’s break it down shall we?
First impressions can be everything and Orme passes that test with flying colours. Her post punk meets goth rock vision draws heavy from the eighties to bring a very uncommon sound to the modern day, but despite wearing her influences on her sleeve, Heartworms manages to never hit too on the nose with that decade by injecting pop sensibilities to the record. It’s a strange concoction of musical directions that is infectious to delve into.
Glutton For Punishment is haunting to the point it could score a thriller at its highest energy or eerily back track a haunted house exploration at its lowest. The dynamically layered output makes it easy to confuse Heartworms with a full band but make no mistake this is a well rounded solo musical superstar in the making at work. A review of Orme’s demo work emphatically shows that she came to the table with the majority of these sonics crafted. The drum programming and bass work is simple but effective and greatly compliments some of my favourite guitar work in ages. There’s also a very welcomed vocal improvement from her early monotone singing that again elevates the product. Industrialized synths and electronic dance mechanisms are scattered throughout to deliver an impactful and insightful listen. Hard work pays off, and a do it all artist is always mesmerizing.
On top of her instrumental prowess Orme is the only credited writer for the nine tracks. The fear and anxiety of the music intertwines nicely with her similarly crafted lyrics. There’s a really firm bond between each element on this album which in turn easily allows a listener to develop an emotional connection with the record. To do this on your first album is quite an achievement and I really find it hard to not think of the previously mentioned Billie Eilish when listening to Glutton For Punishment. Perhaps a little darker than anything Billie has done but Orme would make for a remarkable opening punch if the pop prodigy is ever in the market for a concert opener.
Now we often compliment long standing producer-musician relationships as it can produce excellent work, but the decision to bring back Dan Carey is my solo flaw for this album. A review of his discography shows a well seasoned professional that can help artists get off the ground (Fontaines DC, Wet Leg) but those he helped have also notably left him behind. While I have zero insight to the studio process, Carey appears to track as a polisher instead of a director. A more firm voice in the room to tell the artist when they’re off base is key. For Punishment he easily could have added some flare to her drum and bass efforts or re-worked the track list to provide a more even flow to the sonics. It’s ultimately nitpicking as every song here hits in its own way, but as bad as it is to say, I hope she makes a similar choice to those that came before her and finds a more prolific, influential producer to grow with.
Heartworms’ do it all debut puts Jojo Orme in rarefied air. You’d be hard pressed to find a solo artist with this much across the board talent that doesn’t become a musical star. Glutton For Punishment is mesmerizing and thankfully just the beginning.
Overall Rating: 8.1/10
Favourite Song: Jacked
REID
Another week, another debut release for TSR. This time it comes from Josephine (Jojo) Orme, a 26-year-old from London, England, professionally known as Heartworms. This album follows up a promising EP from 2023, A Comforting Notion. Along with producer Dan Carey, she brings her goth rock to life in a captivating experience that is Glutton For Punishment.
This record creates a haunting, eerie energy from its opening interlude, In The Beginning. The whistling winds paired with the vague unknown creates dark imagery as if you have wandered somewhere you shouldn’t have. Think of the uneasy feeling you had listening to the ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark?’ TV theme song as a child. This ambiance effectively transitions to the build of the album’s first song and from here, Jojo’s stellar songwriting and Carey’s production shine.
The album’s greatest strength is its cohesiveness. It’s nine song, thirty-seven-minute makeup is just right and while it has variation through the track list, it never sways too far from its overall feel. Kicking things off (after the interlude) with frantic pace are Just To Ask A Dance and Jacked. Two tightly woven blends of guitar, drums and synth that build to electrifying pay offs. Mad Catch dials it back with a funky, quirkier offering. Warplane leans into the electronic sound before erupting in gospel-like vocal harmonies for the chorus. Add the near two-minute otherworldly outro and she can have so much fun with a live crowd on this one. Smugglers Adventure is a six-and-a-half-minute epic with a slow guitar culminating to the harmonized vocal climax at 4:40, the single best moment of the album for my money. She strips it down for the final, titular track and closes out it out with the same synth progression and lyrics she ended Just To Ask A Dance. A very cool full-circle moment showcasing artistic integrity and an earworm for the listener. Through all the album’s highs, lows and pace changes is Jojo’s conforming vocal. Whether it’s singing or screaming, she matches the music and brings a consistent swagger to her performances.
Glutton for Punishment is mysterious and intriguing. Progressive and polished. A unique and connected album that’s truly impressive for a debut.
Overall Rating: 8.1/10
Favourite Song: Smugglers Adventure
ROZ
If you’ve been following along the TSR review journey so far in 2025, you may have noticed that the past month, we’ve taken down the debut effort of a punk rock outfit and we’ve dug our claws into the art-pop electronic hybrid of a seasoned pop vet. If you haven’t been following along, I suggest you go back and give them a read and then come back to where you are right now — ir’s totally fine, I don’t mind waiting.
Now that you’re back from that exercise and pleasantly up to speed with the inner workings and rumbling of this humble Canadian music blog, I’m sure that you’ll be surprised to find out that this week’s review concerns an album that in fact shows technical and sonic qualities of our previous reviews. Was post-punk, gothic dance-punk rock on your bingo card this year? It certainly wasn’t on mine, yet here we are. This is Josephine Orme, otherwise known professionally as Heartworms, and her debut studio album Glutton for Punishment.
As the TSR member who has always swayed towards the technical, I always find it extra special when something comes across our table that commands you to focus not only the art, but also the artist. The story of Josephine Orme is by all means a heartbreaking one – an individual who has objectively lived a much harder life than most, fending for herself through the foster care program and learning to live independent on her own by the age of 16. Growing into adulthood with a love for music and a desire to become successful within it, it is these added layers that really add a rawness and grit that works so well within the walls that Orme has built around herself for not only protection, but also as her foundation as she releases herself into her music.
The word rawness is a apt description of Glutton for Punishment. Equals parts reality and fairy tale, Orme utilizes her vocal talents to flesh out the anxieties and incapacities she suffered due to her trauma while also taking the time to treat the album as an imaginative story board to gush about some of her favourite things – history, airplanes (the Spitfire WW2 aircraft specifically), love, and war. The album has a dark brooding militaristic vibe to it, which contrasts deeply to the artists own pacifist ways and the complexity of human beings in general. The albums production dances around a vast flavor of ideas, from the distorted flavorings of punk to dark tones of a wavey synth progression fastened to gritty basslines. Orme’s own voice strains and cracks from song to song, her emotions having absolutely no choice but to seep out of her soul and into each track.
Sonically I couldn’t help but pick up that Orme favored simplistic melodic structures, whether it was coming from a lead guitar, synthesizer or simple voice Simple but no doubt effective. Standout tracks include Just To Ask A Dance, with it’s 80’s/90’s electronic stylings akin to the likes of Depeche Mode or New Order, as well as the song Jacked for it’s exceptional blend of electronic and rock elements and hefty use of delicious distortion. Both songs contained elements that felt so simple yet so effective and were the ear worms for my week. Warplane highlighted the imaginative aspect I brought up; a war-time era story that’s both character-driven and remarkably haunting.
Much like the stories woven by Orme throughout the album, my story takes its own unfortunate turn. For all of the talent on display the album is not without it’s pit falls. The major issue I found myself having was that it never felt like Orme really put her foot down to the floor as much as she should have. I found her struggling to kick it into the next gear, which in turn made it hard for her to fully realize the potential of her ideas. Mad Catch, Extraordinary, Smugglers Adventure never truly seem to get off the ground with the latter being the most egregious culprit of the three; a long and winding rock ballad with a payoff around the 5-minute mark that left me sadly underwhelmed. Even still, my qualms with the album are items that could undoubtedly be actioned through a minor studio shake-up on the back end – either through members or through methodology. I really do believe that there is greatness underneath the surface and the cracks have already opened to prove that.
Glutton for Punishment displays an artist’s unique worldview and couples it with an interesting combination of digital and analog soundscapes. Even with its flaws I remain both hopeful and excited for what’s still to come for Josephine Orme and this ‘Horseworms’ moniker she’s quickly established.
Overall Rating: 7.1/10
Favourite Song: Jacked