A haunting portrayal of isolation mirrors the track’s bewitching, jet-black soul.

A fascination for the macabre. Whether curiosity has led you down the rabbit hole of a career solving homicides or rinsing ITV murder mystery dramas… we all have one. Ready and raring to feed our morbid cravings is London’s post-punk temptress, Heartworms. Enticingly devilish, we’re proud to premier the self-produced music video for her debut single What Can I Do.

Not out of place amidst the title credits of a horror flick, strident guitars and sound-bending synths creep in ominous unison. Found revelling in this chilling soundscape, Heartworms’ everyday alias Jojo Orme utters her soft and sultry vocals with all the beguile of a PJ Harvey number. Loaded with snaking riffs and pulsating percussion, the cold-blooded melody is enough to make your hair stand on end, while fervently begging for more.

Bathed in monochrome and swirling animation, Orme’s music video has all the makings of a James Bond opening sequence – albeit walking on the darker side of the street. With bloodstained lips, allusive black cats and masked creatures crawling from bathtubs, it certainly beats twiddling your thumbs waiting for the cinemas to reopen. Delving deeper into the video’s avant-garde conception, Orme comments: “The video is about procrastination and isolation. Of removing one’s self from the system of control over a hijacked mind. Video is just a way of dealing with all those things.”

Breathing new life into an overworked genre one sardonic lyric at a time, Heartworms’ success is in her uncensored expression. Turning fear into intrigue, ghost stories into poetry and an unassuming punk track into a nail-biting celluloid experience, it seems that there’s not much the newcomer can’t turn her hand to. Find Heartworms on Spotify here.

Words by Laura Pegler.