After securing the sought-after support slot on St. Vincent’s tour in the UK and Europe earlier this summer, Heartworms’ post-punk powered ascent to prominence appears to be in full swing. While the name might suggest a collective, Heartworms is in fact the solo project of guitarist, singer, arranger, performer, theremin sorcerer and dramatic onstage death-stare specialist, Jojo Orme.
Raised in a sleepy Cotswolds town where her talent went unrecognized by peers, her unique vision received its first major endorsement in 2022 when she was picked up by Speedy Wunderground, the taste-making label that first introduced us to black midi, Squid and Black Country, New Road. She recently launched – an intensely jarring banger of a single – and reports that the writing of her debut album is done and dusted, with sights set on an early 2025 for its release. Whether it’s tight, driving synths that descend into cacophony, vocals that morph from a whisper into a scream, or a catchy guitar hook that gets downright flirtatious with tonal dissonance, Orme’s creative spirit seems to feed off of putting herself and the listener on edge.
“I don’t know what I’m trying to portray, but I know it’s always going to be uncomfortable and vulnerable,” she says. “I might write a riff, then write another one on top. I don’t think about what I’m doing – I just know that it makes me feel weird.
” The same applies to tone: Orme is a big fan of pedal combinations that include th.
