diff --git a/beefy_player/providers/base.py b/beefy_player/providers/base.py
index 7656fef..aecd863 100644
--- a/beefy_player/providers/base.py
+++ b/beefy_player/providers/base.py
@@ -107,9 +107,10 @@ class RadioProvider(ABC):
 
     #: Rows of header art drawn at the top left (rich markup is allowed).
     hero: tuple[str, ...] = ()
-    #: Paint :attr:`hero` with the app's spectrum gradient (a wordmark) instead
-    #: of the colours the art carries itself (a picture).
-    hero_gradient: bool = False
+    #: Paint :attr:`hero` with the app's active palette gradient instead of the
+    #: colours the art carries itself.  On by default so every catalogue's
+    #: wordmark follows the terminal's palette; a picture hero can turn it off.
+    hero_gradient: bool = True
     #: Short lines printed beside the hero, top to bottom.
     hero_lines: tuple[str, ...] = ()
 
diff --git a/beefy_player/providers/bassdrive/__init__.py b/beefy_player/providers/bassdrive/__init__.py
index 006a52d..a9307b8 100644
--- a/beefy_player/providers/bassdrive/__init__.py
+++ b/beefy_player/providers/bassdrive/__init__.py
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ class BassdriveProvider(RadioProvider):
     station_source = "bassdrive.com + icecast status"
     history_source = "icecast status (rolling)"
 
-    # The wordmark in the station's own two blues, in the shared half-block
-    # font; the caption is the station's own description.
+    # The wordmark in the shared half-block font, painted with the app's
+    # palette gradient; the caption is the station's own description.
     hero = hero_art.HERO
     hero_lines = (
         "BASSDRIVE",
diff --git a/beefy_player/providers/bassdrive/hero.py b/beefy_player/providers/bassdrive/hero.py
index 715277c..54757d8 100644
--- a/beefy_player/providers/bassdrive/hero.py
+++ b/beefy_player/providers/bassdrive/hero.py
@@ -1,14 +1,11 @@
-"""Bassdrive's header hero: its wordmark in the station's two blues.
+"""Bassdrive's header hero: its wordmark in the shared half-block font.
 
-The logo paints "BASS" in the pale blue and "DRIVE" in the deeper one; those
-map onto the stock palette's bright cyan and cyan, so the wordmark still reads
-as Bassdrive without hard-coded RGB.
+The header paints it with the app's active palette gradient, like every other
+catalogue's wordmark, so the logo follows the terminal's colours.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 from ..wordmark import render
 
-HERO: tuple[str, ...] = render(
-    "BASSDRIVE", ["bright_cyan"] * 4 + ["cyan"] * 5
-)
+HERO: tuple[str, ...] = render("BASSDRIVE")
diff --git a/beefy_player/providers/somafm/__init__.py b/beefy_player/providers/somafm/__init__.py
index 20c09f9..09843bd 100644
--- a/beefy_player/providers/somafm/__init__.py
+++ b/beefy_player/providers/somafm/__init__.py
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ class SomaFMProvider(RadioProvider):
     history_source = "songs/<station>.json"
 
     hero = hero_art.LOGO
-    hero_gradient = True
     hero_lines = hero_art.TAGLINES
 
     @property
diff --git a/beefy_player/providers/somafm/hero.py b/beefy_player/providers/somafm/hero.py
index bd226c5..bcc4c2a 100644
--- a/beefy_player/providers/somafm/hero.py
+++ b/beefy_player/providers/somafm/hero.py
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 """SomaFM's header hero: the block-letter wordmark and the three lines beside it.
 
 The glyphs come from the shared half-block font
-(:mod:`beefy_player.providers.wordmark`); the header paints them with the app's
-spectrum gradient (``hero_gradient``), so the logo takes on the terminal's own
-colours instead of carrying RGB values around.
+(:mod:`beefy_player.providers.wordmark`); the header paints every catalogue's
+wordmark with the app's active palette gradient, so the logo takes on the
+terminal's own colours instead of carrying RGB values around.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
diff --git a/beefy_player/providers/tilderadio/__init__.py b/beefy_player/providers/tilderadio/__init__.py
index 59f401b..366be44 100644
--- a/beefy_player/providers/tilderadio/__init__.py
+++ b/beefy_player/providers/tilderadio/__init__.py
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ class TilderadioProvider(RadioProvider):
     station_source = "tilderadio.org/api/now/"
     history_source = "now_playing + history[]"
 
-    # The station's own radio icon, converted to half blocks by
-    # ``tools/ansi_art.py``; the caption is the tildeverse's motto.
+    # The station's wordmark in the shared half-block font, painted with the
+    # app's palette gradient; the caption is the tildeverse's motto.
     hero = hero_art.HERO
     hero_lines = (
         "TILDERADIO",
diff --git a/beefy_player/providers/tilderadio/hero.py b/beefy_player/providers/tilderadio/hero.py
index d852a49..2f3c78c 100644
--- a/beefy_player/providers/tilderadio/hero.py
+++ b/beefy_player/providers/tilderadio/hero.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 """tilderadio's header hero: its name in the shared half-block font.
 
-No colours of its own — the wordmark inherits the terminal's default
-foreground, so it looks like part of the chrome rather than a logo pasted in.
+The shared half-block font; the header paints it with the app's active
+palette gradient, so the wordmark follows the terminal's colours like the rest
+of the chrome.
 """
 
 from __future__ import annotations
diff --git a/beefy_player/providers/wordmark.py b/beefy_player/providers/wordmark.py
index 7e95a90..f6f7da2 100644
--- a/beefy_player/providers/wordmark.py
+++ b/beefy_player/providers/wordmark.py
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@
 
 Every shipped catalogue draws its brand the same way: four-column capitals,
 six pixels tall, emitted as three rows of half blocks (``▀``/``▄``/``█``) — the
-same shape as the original SomaFM logo.  Catalogues differ only in the word
-they spell and the ANSI colours they paint it with, so the font lives here and
-each provider's ``hero.py`` is one line of data.
+same shape as the original SomaFM logo.  The header paints every wordmark with
+the app's active palette gradient, so catalogues differ only in the word they
+spell; the font lives here and each provider's ``hero.py`` is one line of data.
 
 Glyphs are 6x4 bitmaps (``M`` is 6x5).  Two pixel rows become one text row, so
 a wordmark is always three rows tall and the header keeps a fixed height.
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@ a wordmark is always three rows tall and the header keeps a fixed height.
 
 from __future__ import annotations
 
-from collections.abc import Sequence
-
 #: 6-row bitmap per capital; all rows of one glyph are the same width.
 GLYPHS: dict[str, tuple[str, ...]] = {
     "A": (".##.", "#..#", "####", "#..#", "#..#", "#..#"),
@@ -65,36 +63,10 @@ def _glyph_rows(char: str) -> tuple[str, ...]:
     )
 
 
-def render(text: str, styles: Sequence[str | None] | None = None) -> tuple[str, ...]:
-    """Spell ``text`` as three rows of half blocks.
-
-    ``styles`` gives one rich-markup style per character (``None`` leaves it in
-    the terminal's default colour).  Contiguous runs of the same style share a
-    markup span, so ``render("BASSDRIVE", ...)`` paints the first four letters
-    and the last five separately.
-    """
-    if styles is not None and len(styles) != len(text):
-        raise ValueError("styles must provide one entry per character")
-
+def render(text: str) -> tuple[str, ...]:
+    """Spell ``text`` as three rows of half blocks."""
     glyphs = [_glyph_rows(char.upper()) for char in text]
     rows: list[str] = []
     for row in range(ROWS):
-        cells: list[tuple[str | None, str]] = []
-        for index, glyph in enumerate(glyphs):
-            style = styles[index] if styles is not None else None
-            if index:
-                cells.append((style, _GAP))
-            cells.extend((style, char) for char in glyph[row])
-        while cells and cells[-1][1] == " ":
-            cells.pop()
-
-        segments: list[tuple[str | None, str]] = []
-        for style, char in cells:
-            if segments and segments[-1][0] == style:
-                segments[-1] = (style, segments[-1][1] + char)
-            else:
-                segments.append((style, char))
-        rows.append(
-            "".join(f"[{style}]{body}[/]" if style else body for style, body in segments)
-        )
+        rows.append(_GAP.join(glyph[row] for glyph in glyphs).rstrip())
     return tuple(rows)
diff --git a/beefy_player/widgets/header.py b/beefy_player/widgets/header.py
index 08342b7..d70f3bc 100644
--- a/beefy_player/widgets/header.py
+++ b/beefy_player/widgets/header.py
@@ -35,8 +35,11 @@ def _hero_line(
         line.no_wrap = True
         return line
 
+    # Iterate the *text* of the row, not its markup: a hero is allowed to
+    # carry styles of its own, and those brackets are not cells to paint.
+    plain = Text.from_markup(markup).plain
     line = Text(no_wrap=True)
-    for column, char in enumerate(markup):
+    for column, char in enumerate(plain):
         position = (column / max(1, width - 1) + index * 0.055) % 1.0
         line.append(char, style=f"bold {gradient(stops, position)}")
     return line