The Australian songwriter returns with a beachy, airborne set with subtle hints of something darker lurking underneath.
After stints in Berlin and London and years of nomadic living on tour, Carla dal Forno returned to Australia. The electropop singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist settled in Castlemaine, a township roughly 80 miles northwest of her native Melbourne. With a population of 6,750, its pastoral, tree-lined streets are a far cry from the dense urban infrastructures that have loomed over dal Forno’s music for the better part of a decade. Her chilling 2016 debut, You Know What It’s Like, felt like a late-night dispatch from a cold concrete tunnel. Dal Forno’s precise synth work was ominous; it could sound like steam hissing from a pothole, or the unsheathing of a blade. Some of the smog lifted on 2019’s Look Up Sharp, the contours of each song gleaming a bit brighter. On her latest album, Come Around, dal Forno seems even lighter, emitting the stillness of her new home. These nine songs are beachy and airborne, with only the slightest suggestion that something troublesome is lurking underneath.
The most menacing entry is dal Forno’s cover of the United States of America’s 1968 ripper “The Garden of Earthly Delights.” Dal Forno’s minimalist interpretation is far creepier; totally tranquil, she lists off an arsenal of poisonous plants, as if she’s already slipped their venom into your tea. “I wanted to produce something enticing and emotionally resonant—a reflection of a false sense of security—alongside these lyrical depictions of scary wilderness,” dal Forno recently said of her version. She heightens the suspense with a tight focus on arrangement, contrasting the song’s botanical lyrics with machine-like instruments. Dal Forno spent months honing the rhythm and timbre of side stick percussion, which underpins the track like a shaky scaffold.
Dal Forno is a perfectionist, but instead of letting that tendency crowd her music, she stakes out a few places in her compositions to plant each refined detail. Many of the songs are grounded by a sturdy, repetitive bassline. On opener “Side by Side,” Dal Forno adorns the spare plucking with swells of static and sickly warped synthesizer. The wordless “Autumn” is anchored by a thick, rubbery bass loop, but more intriguing are the spindly filaments that wrap around it: slight fretboard scratches, simmering metallic thrums, and what sounds like a cricket chirping through an echo chamber.
“Stay Awake” is spurred by digital wind and shrill bells, but the song is stained by a foreboding narrator and a gnawing tension. “When you’re counting the days that you might withstand,” she sings, her voice breathy and serene. Dal Forno’s delivery makes this line especially unnerving—highlighting the contrast between the placid character and the tedious endurance of daily life. In the same chant-like melody, dal Forno offers an alternative to the grind, daydreaming of “when the waves come to shore and take you out.” It makes you question the role she’s playing in the song…self-help cult leader? Or meditation bot with a dark sense of humor?
On the title track, dal Forno sifts through sunnier memories in Australia. “After many years in big cities I’m enjoying being surrounded by trees rather than tall buildings,” she told Brooklyn Vegan last month. In the lyrics, she celebrates exploration, moving to a new town and discovering those “special spots” only locals know. It is Come Around’s breeziest track—like a Beach Boys demo melting in the sun. Delayed surf guitar riffs drift in and out, as dal Forno modulates synthesizers to sound like seaspray. But even her sweetest piece leaves a tart aftertaste. “It’s not every day that I’ll want you beside me here,” she sings, before confessing that previous lovers have all looked the same: “You could be the next one in my life,” she concedes. Old habits have a way of following us, even to the most tranquil places.
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