Emerging Sounds: Active Child
By Evan Hart:
English pop sensation Ellie Goulding has taken a liking to music by artist Active Child (Pat Grossi), covering his song "Hanging On" on her second album, and most recently, featured on "Silhouette" from his outstanding 2013 Rapor EP. That same song was broadcast to the masses last year on episodes of both Teen Wolf and Arrow; paired with key emotional climaxes, this caused legions of teenage fans and gay men to collectively OD on their own estrogen.
And yet, is Active Child a household name? No, it seems he is not. In the meantime, he is making some of the most highly original downtempo ballads of the decade; indeed, he may have played an unsung role in rebooting the trendiness of the once-ubiquitous ballad single. Still, no one is doing it quite like him.
Grossi's music can best be summed up as a meditation on the distances between people. Highly personal, his songs mix a bare lyrical intimacy with lush, evocative soundscapes that brim with life. Cascading harps and a soaring falsetto lend a mystical and ritualistic air to the proceedings, as Grossi peels back the layers of emotional pain that his past relationships have caused him.
Early singles from the outstanding 2011 album "You Are All I See" are uniformly beautiful and tortured. "Hanging On" is a bitter breakup threat ("I just can't keep hanging on to you and me") that wounds the more deeply for its sweetness, and "Playing House" is equally fed-up ("I'm trying to find you, I'm trying to reach you now, I don't even know").Later efforts saw Grossi moving into more meditative territory, asking questions rather than issuing ultimatums. "Evening Ceremony" is a masterpiece, opening with tolling bells and prayer-like, futile questions to an absent lover whispered into the void ("even if I wanted to love you, would you love me?"). The music builds and swoons into a hopeful wash of sound ("tell me what you need, and I promise I'll take control") as we collectively pray that Grossi's plea is answered.
A message to Pat Grossi's ex-girlfriends: shame on you for emotionally scarring this beautiful, brilliant man, but also, thank you.
