EP Review: Heartworms - ‘A Comforting Notion’

When Jojo Orme isn’t in the studio, channelling teen unrest and Little English ennui into slow-burning gothic crooners, you’ll find her at RAF Hendon tinkering with WW2 spitfires. It’s no surprise then that her debut EP,  ‘A Comforting Notion’ is a masterstroke in precision engineering, fusing pulsating bass lines and spidery metallic guitars in a way that only the South London musician and lifelong military aviation buff could.

Orme’s peculiar world begins to come into focus on opener, ‘Consistent Dedication’. A masterful punk doom-monger held together, just, by Orme’s caterwauling and a fitting introduction to the Heartworms project – a place where the musician, who spent much of her youth between places and peer groups, can project her deepest fears, hopes, and interests without parameters. 

This shadowy portrait expands further on cuts like ‘Retributions Of An Awful Life’, where Orme grapples with adult existence, plagued as much by jolty, Siouxsie-styled guitars as a chilling sensation of something lurking close behind: “When you’re young decisions aren’t that fun / I hear you running from fear you worry about.” It’s not a light listen, much less a comfortable one, but that’s what Orme wants. Even as cheeriest offering, ‘24 Hours’ rumbles to a close, there’s a real sense of having been through the wringer.

Working closely with Speedy Wunderground head honcho, Dan Carey (whom Orme has long admired for his unsullied approach to art), the pair have crafted a densely textured tableau of our progressively dystopian reality. One which rewards re-listening while prefacing more twisted, military-infused mania to come. Roger that. 

Printed in: Issue #10 of LICKS Mag.