Punching out curves in SVG file

[80sTherapy]

I am trying to punch out the music notes and the black layer underneath them like so:

The above was achieved by choosing the erase blend mode, but the file cannot be exported as is without rasterizing, which I don't want.  

So instead, I subtracted the layer (Layer>Geometry>Subtract) but instead of the above, I get this:

 

Subtracting the layer worked for other similar images, but not this one and another. Can anyone please assist?

 

Thank you.

 

GL

[MEB]

Hi @80sTherapy,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Select the resulting shape/layer go to menu Layer > Fill Mode > Alternate (or Winding if alternate is selected there).

[80sTherapy]

Fantastic. Thanks!