Carla Dal Forno – Come Around

Carla dal Forno has spent her first two solo records honing a very specific atmosphere, using the sound of 80s DIY synth-pop and post-punk to make soundscapes recalling brain fog haze and the equal parts calm and danger of a sleepwalker's plod. On Come Around, her third solo outing, she hones in even further on this sound until it’s at its most essential form. 

The trademark dreamy haze is certainly there in spades. Opener Side by Side melds its seasick lurch of a bassline with wafting synths into something warm yet gently eerie, while the hypnotic, cyclical melodies at the centre of Stay Awake feel like a slow sink into your own subconscious.That is not to say there aren't new sounds for dal Forno on the record. The title track, with languorous rhythms and stabs of guitar manages to feel like one of the half-forgotten dub singles that informed post-punk the first time around without ever feeling blindly derivative. 

It certainly feels slighter than her previous record, Look Up Sharp. Barring the exception of the brilliant, more up-tempo Mind You're On, Come Around doesn’t have the tonal or the sonic variety of that previous record. Instead the record polishes to perfection dal Forno’s specific sound-world, feeling more like a jigsaw, the songs forming a kind of composite dreamscape.

Listen to: Side by Side, Come Around, Mind You're On