Carla dal Forno - Come Around

When was 2016? Twenty years ago? That's back when we first heard a solo record from Carla Dal Forno, then based between either Berlin or London, although tbh, i thought it was a lot longer ago. This third record, made in her new home of Castlemaine, Central Victoria, brings into focus what, from the vantage point of the end of 2022, feels like some pretty significant shifts in underground music. On introduction, what dal Forno was doing felt fairly unique, a marriage of eclectic and left of centre leaning tastes with pop guile. She even covered Lana Del Rey (and why not!). You Know What It's Like is kind of a pivotal text in that sense, and seems to have helped usher forth an ever-richening underground, from Australia and across Europe - dal Forno's sound seems to echo everywhere, but on Come Around she shows it's still very much hers. Dub foundations, crystalline synths and coquettish vocals charged with longing and desire - few have done it so assuredly. There's still space on Come Around for evolution, too, the production murky but somehow fuller, a bigger cavern to mope around in perhaps, and vocally there seems to be more confidence, caught somewhere between Anna Domino, Carol and A.C. Marias' Angela Conway. dal Forno's NTS show and recent Bakers Dozen show what is obviously knock out taste, but credit where it's due: it's through this taste that she's created a new sensibility with many adherents. Come Around is a reminder of who's the boss.