06-02 Active Child streams new album
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Active Child is the project of Pat Grossi, resident of Los Angeles, native of New Jersey. Inspired by his days as a choir boy
and epic nights as amember of the band Weight Room, Grossi combines his soaring vocals and crunching analogue synths with
the honey drip drop of echoing harps.
For Pat Grossi of Active Child, the last two years have been nothing short of enriching. Musically, Pat has worked within and
appropriated a number ofstyles into his sound, from his early days singing with that heavenly voice as a choir boy to his more
recent forays into laptop-assisted indie-pop madei ...read more
Active Child is the project of Pat Grossi, resident of Los Angeles, native of New Jersey. Inspired by his days as a choir boy
and epic nights as amember of the band Weight Room, Grossi combines his soaring vocals and crunching analogue synths with
the honey drip drop of echoing harps.
For Pat Grossi of Active Child, the last two years have been nothing short of enriching. Musically, Pat has worked within and
appropriated a number ofstyles into his sound, from his early days singing with that heavenly voice as a choir boy to his more
recent forays into laptop-assisted indie-pop madein his bedroom, best exemplified on 2010’s acclaimed Curtis Lane EP. His
sound is so wide-ranging that he has found himself touring with manynotable acts of differing genres, including dubstep
producer James Blake, dreamy synth-pop of School of Seven Bells, and the indie-rock bands WhiteLies and White Rabbits.
Nothing quite prepares you for the leap that Pat has taken with his debut album, You Are All I See, out on August 23rd via
Vagrant records. Recently,he has expanded his sonic ambitions and turned the studio into an instrument for a record that
sounds cosmically huge and yet intimate all the same.
Of the album title, Pat himself says, “You Are All I See is an attempt to build a bridge between the listener and I, in that, I
wrote these songs for youas much as I did for me. And right now when you are listening to my voice, by yourself, it really is
just you and I.” In attempting to craft songs thatmeant something not only to himself but that could be meaningful to others
as well, he found himself working with some universally human andfragile themes. “The songs focus primarily on the joy and
heartbreak of relationships, love lost and rediscovered, battles with monogamy, battles withidentity,” Pat says. “It came out
much darker than I had intended, but sometimes you only have so much control.”
The grand, cinematic scope of Pat’s artistic vision is apparent on You Are All I See, which owes as much to his wide array of
influences as it does toPat’s own knack for employing these influences in fresh, forward-thinking ways. With triumphant
synths and shimmering, contrapuntal harp lines,songs like the title track and “Hanging On” are reminiscent of Radiohead’s
“Motion Picture Soundtrack,” but improve upon that template with layeredvocals not far removed from Bon Iver or even
James Blake, who Active Child recently opened for on tour. “High Priestess” and “See Thru Eyes” arestunning forays into
electronic music territory, littered with samples, drum machines, and keyboards that propel the songs forward
whilesimultaneously seeming weightless and suspended. It is in this tension that You Are All I See lives, breathes, and thrives
so magnificently. The albumis indebted to the sounds of the 1980s, from New Order’s drums-and-synths to danceable hip-hop
beats, and it’s all topped off with soaring r&bmelodies. The album’s first single, “Playing House,” features guest vocals from
Tom Krell, the crooner of lo-fi r&b project How To Dress Well. PitchforkMedia recently premiered the track, noting “Active
Child’s sound now seems positively ahead of its time.”
Reflecting on the album’s finished product, Pat says “I think more than anything, I see this debut release as a bridge towards
something bigger andtruer. Something I can look back on and think, ‘damn, you really did it’.” When you finally hear You Are
All I See you’ll think the very same thing. « hide |
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