Pat Grossi a.k.a. Active Child

Former choirboy Pat Grossi, a.k.a. Active Child, released his debut record this summer, but his music’s ethereal ache and somber spirituality seems suited for fall, a season of early sunsets, temperature drops, and contemplation.

A hybrid of hymns and electro-pop, the six songs on the Curtis Lane EP resound with layers of church choir vocals, organs, synthesizers, harps, and bells over swanky bass lines and electronic drums. With his mixture of sacred and secular, Active Child sounds like a cross between one-woman band Glasser and a digital version of Sufjan Stevens. With this project, Grossi joins a growing number of one-person indie bands (and duos) that use recording studio technology to sound like a multitude of musicians.

The moniker ‘Active Child’ is misleading. The achy lyrics, languid tempos, and ambient instrumentation on Curtis Lane seem like the opposite of hyperactivity. And the record shows no sign of childishness, despite the photo of children in Halloween masks on the album cover and the recent appearance of a song on the CW’s remake of 90210 . Instead, the songs reflect the pain of adulthood, namely the sorrows of love, loss, and absence, and the ambiguity of a relationship “somewhere between making love and being friends.” Finally, Active Child is playing on Thursday (Nov. 15) after a performance of Strauss’ Intermezzo by the New York City Opera. Maybe the bar will serve Grown Up Soda.

Active Child, “I’m In Your Church at Night” (Original/School of Seven Bells Remix)

The sustained organ that opens the album establishes a religious mood not only for the song (“I’m in Your Church at Night)” but for the whole album. Some lyrics make explicit reference to souls, prayers, and visions. Some songs could be sung to a lover, a divinity, or both. And in the chorus of “Take Shelter” Grossi seems to speak in the voice of God: “If you’re afraid/In this world/Say a prayer tonight/Lay down close your eyes/You’ll be safer in my arms.”

Active Child, “Take Shelter”

Grossi’s voice may remind indie fans of Justin Vernon, the Bon Iver frontman who also sings in the retro band GAYNGS. Grossi often sings in falsetto and records multiple tracks of his high-pitched voice drenched in reverb. The mood is both haunting and plaintive. On the few spots where he sings in chest voice, he sounds like Ben Bridwell, the frontman of Band of Horses or adopts a faux-British combo of Tears for Fears and Depeche Mode.

While most of Curtis Lane sounds like a dirge for a dying year, the album’s last song offers a glint of hope. “Let’s go out in the wilderness/We’ll run wild/It’s so cold/But you know we belong there.” The unspoiled lovers’ paradise sounds a bit like the winter cabin that inspired Justin Vernon’s nom de rock (Bon Hiver means ‘good winter’ in French). And the message is timeless and universal: the power of love can keep you warm.

Keith Meatto is co-editor of Frontier Psychiatrist. Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?

Active Child, Curtis Lane EP