Some places never really let you leave. You can move cities, change your appearance, meet new people and build an entirely different life, but certain streets, houses and familiar corners have a way of dragging old versions of yourself back to the surface. Brisbane/Meanjin alt-rock quartet Worm Girlz explore that unsettling reality on ‘Broken Tooth,’ the second glimpse into their forthcoming EP, In Loving Memory Of….
Arriving less than a year after their ARIA-charting self-titled debut album, the new single sees Worm Girlz move into darker, more introspective territory. Where their debut established the band as one of Australia’s exciting alt-rock acts, ‘Broken Tooth’ feels like opening a door they perhaps should have left closed. And whatever is waiting on the other side isn’t quite dead yet.
Built around brooding melodies, intimate lyricism and an increasingly weighty instrumental arrangement, ‘Broken Tooth’ examines what remains after people and places have disappeared from our everyday lives. The song isn’t simply about remembering someone. It’s about questioning whether you still exist in their memory, too.
Vocalists Lauren and Jade trade verses, giving the track an almost conversational quality as they navigate memories of people, places and experiences that refuse to stay buried. Their voices create a sense of emotional distance while simultaneously making the story feel deeply personal. Jade describes the strange experience of returning to her hometown and realizing that practically every location carries a memory.
“I often wonder about the parts of myself I have left behind there and if the memory of me haunts people the way that they haunt me.”
That question sits at the heart of ‘Broken Tooth’: what pieces of ourselves do we leave behind in other people’s lives? And perhaps even more unsettling who remembers those pieces after we’ve moved on?
‘Broken Tooth’ is the kind of song that doesn’t immediately demand your attention by being enormous. Instead, it pulls you closer. There is something deliberately uneasy about the track’s atmosphere. The melodies feel shadowy and distant, while the instrumentation gradually creates the sensation that something much larger is lurking underneath. Worm Girlz understand that sometimes restraint can make a song hit harder than sheer volume.
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