Formidable South London auteur Heartworms has today announced her highly anticipated debut album Glutton For Punishment - out 7th February on Speedy Wunderground. She has also shared the brand new single ‘Warplane’ taken from it, and its accompanying video directed by Gilbert Trejo.
‘Warplane’ is a blistering new offering which includes some of Heartworms’ most evoking lyricism to date that conjures striking images of the horrors of warfare combined with her passion for military history. Expanding on the single, Heartworms says: “The opening lyrics set the scene of a dogfight in the air while civilians are witnessing it take shape. My imagination is always out of my control, and my love of Spitfires even more so, so I couldn’t help but make this about a spitfire pilot.”
“I am dedicating this to William Gibson Gordon - a Spitfire pilot who was killed in action by an Me109 at just 20 years old. The song ends how I imagine his falling Spitfire sounds to me, like an angel losing its extraordinary wings.”
Speaking on the album and the stirring imagery that accompanies it, Heartworms explains: “I’ve been chastised my whole life; made to feel as if I didn’t belong, punished for not fitting into a perfect image of how a growing woman should be. When you’re told something enough times you start to believe it. I often find myself locked into an unhealthy cycle of craving harsh discipline, greedy for the familiarity it brings but terrified of the consequences - better the devil you know. But this album doesn’t just reflect my own experiences; it reflects those of the people in my life and the stories of others that I think need to be heard.”
“Gilbert Trejo and I were lucky enough to enlist the help of an incredible blacksmith called Gus Baldwin. I’m wearing his ‘Brutal Bridle’, a take on the scold’s bridle, a mediaeval instrument of punishment intended to publicly humiliate and silence women.”
Gilbert Trejo adds: “For the video of Warplane I kept thinking of Jojo as Ares watching William Wyler’s [1942 film] Mrs. Miniver. Standing over this horrible war and experiencing the loss herself. She’d told me the story of William Gibson Gordon, and seeing how the death of this young man nearly 100 years ago moved her, was touching. It was like she was there”
Produced by longtime collaborator Dan Carey, Glutton For Punishment combines the propulsive, motorik tendencies of gothic stalwarts Depeche Mode, with the lyrical dexterity of PJ Harvey, and the off-kilter rhythms of LCD Soundsystem into a powerful sonic onslaught that is entirely Heartworms. “With my EP, people kind of pigeonholed me into post-punk,” she says. “I was like, ‘Cool, I can do that, but I can also do way more’ – I can do post-punk, but I can also be poppy and catchy, and this album represents that. I think people might be surprised when they hear it.”
Heartworms’ debut EP A Comforting Notion was subject to critical acclaim from the likes of The Sunday Times, Dazed, The FADER, The Quietus, Loud and Quiet, The Line of Best Fit, So Young Magazine, and many more. The EPs singles were added to the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist following widespread support across the station, as well as spot plays from Radio X’s John Kennedy, and BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders and Gemma Bradley.
Earlier this year Heartworms supported The Kills in the US, St Vincent in the UK (which included the Royal Albert Hall), and Jack White at London’s Islington Assembly Hall. She also played her biggest headline show to date at a sold out Village Underground in November last year. Alongside the news of her debut album, Heartworms has announced details of her 2025 UK and EU tour.
With the news of Glutton For Punishment now out in the world, the future is Heartworms’ for the taking.
Glutton For Punishment
1. In The Beginning
2. Just To Ask A Dance
3. Jacked
4. Mad Catch
5. Extraordinary Wings
6. Warplane
7. Celebrate
8. Smuggler’s Adventure
9. Glutton For Punishment
