- It feels as though Carla Dal Forno should almost be a household name by now, at least by Australian independent music standards. The London via Melbourne diy-pop luminary has been a constant presence since the release of her debut album You Know What It’s Like in 2016. Her dreamy blend of Eno style ambient/pop studioship and dub-wise post-punk meandering has proven to have a uniquely enduring appeal as she’s toured extensively throughout Europe and America and garnered lavish praise for both her debut album and the follow up EP The Garden. Her eagerly awaited second full-length finally sees the light of day on her own label Kallista Records.
Dal Forno’s solo work has maintained a pop-oriented focus largely estranged from her previous indefinably abstract work in bands like F Ingers or Tarcar. Her artful but pop-oriented approach reached its peak with Top Of The Pops last year, a limited release of covers of pop hits like The B52’s Give Me Back My Man and Lana Del Rey’s Summertime Sadness. Following on from that detour Look Up Sharp is Dal Forno’s most polished and conventionally styled solo effort to date, with spare and familiar traces remaining of the experimentalism that has underpinned her previous work.
No Trace opens the record with the first of many momentous bass lines, laying the groundwork for a swirl of wildly oscillating synthesizers and sparkling percussive hits. Dal Forno sings in her distinctive whispered tones, her lyrics largely indecipherable. The thrust of the opener is short with one of the several instrumental tracks on the record, Hype Sleep, following immediately after and marking out very different territory. Subdued clave and marimba-like percussive rhythms dance with distant streaks of flute, all based around another central bass line. Dal Forno plays the bass guitar with an almost obsessive devotion, steadily plodding along and never straying far from one riff. At times it’s hypnotic, like on the spacious vocal-led song Took A Long Time, but across the almost four-minute instrumental track it becomes strikingly repetitive.
The ambient instrumental pieces which account for almost half of Look Up Sharp are occasionally stunning, as in the case of Leaving For Japan with its aching combination of slowly squelching synths and familiar, marimba-like percussion. However, others linger somewhat aimlessly like Heart of Hearts monotonal strings. The tracks are gratifying enough in isolation, though never quite reaching a sublime point. Their instrumental shyness makes them odd bedfellows in rank with the starkly groove-driven vocal songs, especially those that push towards a bolder style.
The lead single So Much Better pairs the slow plod of Carla’s bass and the usual slew of synth sounds with an increasingly confrontational vocal. The somewhat mean spirited and self-aggrandising lyrics are an uncomfortable emotional detour. Lyrically, it’s an outlier from the rest of the record which relishes more unbiased and emotionally ambiguous lyrics. Don’t Follow Me and I’m Conscious are the vocal standouts delivering some much needed hooks and spaced out pop.
Look Up Sharp is undoubtedly a more refined sounding record than Dal Forno’s previous releases, but the increase in fidelity is at the sacrifice of a lot of unusual textural and expressive elements. There are moments of greatness, but they’re squelched between repetitive and flat textures that could use a little of that sharpening she's talking about. On this record Carla Dal Forno comes closer than ever before, but there's an awkwardness in that intimacy and you'll likely leave with mixed emotions.
- Jaden Gallagher.