Heartworms tells us about her 10 Favorite Goth Albums

When Jojo Orme started Heartworms a few years back, she clearly had the project’s whole aesthetic worked out: a sleek, obsidian update on gothy, high-drama postpunk with her love of military history baked into everything. Orme soon was taken under the wing of producer and Speedy Wunderground founder Dan Carey, who helped her bring her vision to eye-popping, silver gelatin black and white glory. After a few years of singles, EPs and a US tour supporting The Kills, Jojo has delivered Heartworms’ debut album, Glutton for Punishment, and you can listen to that below.

There’s no denying the goth influence on Heartworms, and with that in mind, Jojo has made us a list of her 10 favorite goth albums, which stretch from the ’80s “classic goth” period to today, and include heavy hitters Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Sisters of Mercy, and more. Check out her list and commentary, which connects some of the albums to Heartworms’ debut, below.

HEARTWORMS – 10 FAVORITE GOTH ALBUMS
This is in alphabetical order not favourite order. I can’t favourite them in order – Heartworms

Drahla – Useless Coordinates
May this album continue to inspire those to not be afraid to create space and use minimalism, such worlds can be formed with just your hands. This is what ‘Useless Coordinates’ did for Heartworms, I knew what I wanted to achieve once it touched my ears. This album gave me confidence to do things my own way. It’s badass.

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Grauzone – Grauzone
Though not an “album”, it holds itself strongly as one. To me it dented my view on production and how effective one sound can articulate a chorus without placing lyrics in a chorus. It has inspired a lot of my songwriting structures. I really listened to this everyday for a whole year.

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Killing Joke – Killing Joke
‘Wardance’ was the first track I heard. This album dirty with grit, every single intro to each song strangles you and keeps you there. This album helped me fine attitude, it made me move, it made me utilise anger stylishly.

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The KVB – Always Then
A friend from university told me about them some years ago. Their synth lines and drum machines still rule me, and like The Horrors and Gary Newman their vocals and catchy melodies let dance. Train journeys never go so fast and yet so very slow.

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Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Push The Sky Away
This album starts with a metallic taste, like mercury at room temperature. Each song breathes its own air. ‘Wide Lovely Eyes’ starts soul crushing and hopeful, Nick Cave knows how to take your icy heart and crush it beneath his harrowed heel. ‘Jubilee Street’ inspired the orchestral choices in ‘Smugglers Adventure’ from my debut album Glutton For Punishment.

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Nox Arcana – Gothic
Instrumentals play a big part in my day to day as a creative. This album sits high up on the list of conducting atmospheres for me to read, make poetry and write stories and to just embody a tortured character. If you’re reading Edgar Allan Poe, The Picture Of Dorian Grey, just Gothic literature, making clay gravestones or anything baroque you goth heads do in your spare time, this album sets the scenes.

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Siouxsie and The Banshees – Peep Show
Some I know will disagree on this being their best album, but I connect to this one solely because of the memories attached to it, and a friend’s dad gifted me this on Christmas some years ago. I loved cleaning my room and packing moving boxes while the record played. The hopefulness yet still with dark imagery reminds me of my way of writing and seeing the world. ‘The Killing Jar’ places my head softly on a difficult day.

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The Sisters of Mercy – Floodland
Lets just say this opened the Black Heavy Colossal Metal Gates of Goth for me. I don’t like to get too geeky when it comes to music overall because it’s all about how it feels than its maths. This album makes me feel the shadows, the bassline in ‘Lucretia My Reflection’ is definitely one of my favourite baselines. This started war inside of me to own the stage, ignite interest in macabre lyrical material, and drool over those 80s snares. It can’t get any darker than Andrew Eldritch.

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The Soft Moon – The Soft Moon
One of the many first “goth” albums I listened to year ago. It was so underrated at the time and couldn’t understand why as it was and still is phenomenal, I had a lose grasp of who I was as an artist when I heard this but it reached its hand out to me with the song ‘Circles’ and offered me a vision. This album became my best friend.

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Sóley – Krómantik
Another instrumental album that I listen to when learning and reading about The Gothic. Im all about setting scenes and this sets a scene of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. ‘Swing’ seeps evil, it torments yet consoles, ‘th ghost of some old sin, the cancer of some concealed disgrace; punishment coming.’- Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

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