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Saying it out loud with Carla dal Forno

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The Nugget
April 10, 2026

★ Saying it out loud with Carla dal Forno ★

Carla dal Forno

Carla dal Forno's new album, Confession, was written and recorded over several years in her studio at the old hospital on Halford St.

It’s the kind of eerily-quiet place where it's hard to ignore your feelings.

“At the heart of the album is a friendship that became emotionally charged in an unexpected way,” Carla says.

She leaves room around that.

“It’s stuff that’s happened,” she says. “But it’s also art. It’s partly fictionalised.

“I think it’s good if people bring their own interpretations,” she says. “Rather than me giving the full backstory.”

That hasn’t stopped people from trying.

"A friend asked how my partner was coping with the album,” she says.

This person had imagined a wild scandal that just didn't happen.

Carla checked in with her partner, anyway.

“He just said, ‘It’s art, Carla.’ He’s very pragmatic.”

Confessions is her fourth album. The music is lighter than the subject matter suggests. Carla makes subtle dream pop with post-punk edges and lots of bass.

"I like the sound of DIY production. That's where I see my music sitting, so the hospital suited me perfectly.

"I have like this square concrete bunker that I work in. It's really private and I feel really happy there."

Carla moved to Castlemaine in late 2020 at the start of the great influx of new families fleeing Melbourne.

Carla and her partner moved from London, where they both worked in music.

Her partner was managing a record store and Carla was touring extensively across Europe and North America. Her fans included Pitchfork and the BBC.

Everything changed when she had her first child and one month later, COVID hit.

“Our careers were both over overnight,” she says.

They spent months in a one-bedroom flat in lockdown before returning to Australia.

Castlemaine offered space and family support and a whole lot of new.

“You meet friends and you get crushes,” she says. “It’s almost like falling in love.”

And in a small town, that closeness is sticky.

“In a big city, if things get complicated, you can avoid people,” she says. “Here, you’re going to see them again.”

That changes things. For someone who describes herself as avoidant, it’s meant being more direct.

“It’s been good for me,” she says. “Not just about the hard stuff, but the good stuff too.”

That directness shows up in Carla’s songs.

“I practice what I want to say to people in songs,” she says.

“Sometimes it’s easier. It's like practice for real life. Maybe you say that in real life, or maybe it just exists in a song."

Carla didn’t get into music with formal training. She started a band with friends who were open to her being a total novice, learned a few chords and kept going.

“I was listening to people with normal voices singing about everyday things,” she says. “And I thought, I can do that.”

She still works in that space. DIY production, everyday stories.

“Originally I wanted to make something more abstract,” she says. “But the songs only worked when I leaned into emotional truth.”

Balancing that work with family life is “an ongoing thing.”

“I think making art makes me a happier, more well-rounded person, which makes me a better mother.”

Castlemaine has given her a place to do both.

“I’ve never really experienced being part of a community before,” she says. “This is the first time.”

Carla plays the Bridge Hotel on April 25, before gigs in Sydney, Melbourne, Europe and America.

“I’m looking forward to seeing friends in the crowd,” she says.

In between touring, you might find her hanging out at Table Records on a Sunday afternoon.

❀ Observing and reimagining the body ❀

I 🫀 Emily Fong and am happy to report that she is doing a talk at the Castlemaine Art Museum.

She is a local artist exploring the experience of existing in a human container and one of those peeps I could sit and listen to for yonks.

You may have seen her leading drawing classes on the streets of Castlemaine and at the Sac’O’Suds Launderette.

She's passionate about anatomy and art-science collaboration. Emily is currently one of two 3D modellers on the Open 3D Man project lead by Leiden University Medical Centre. Big brain!

You won't regret an afternoon in her company. Tix include a bevvie and a chance to chat at the end of the talk.

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