Album Review: Active Child - Mercy

Somewhere, probably in Brooklyn, or a city where there is a large, per capita amount of hipsters—anyway, somewhere, people are probably having sex while Active Child’s “1999” is playing on their iPod. Or, if they are real hipsters, from their Crosley brand turntable.

But that’s just the kind of song it is, you know? And people have sexual urges and desires or whatever, and sometimes putting on music helps set the mood. “1999” sets the mood, and then some. It may be the “Sex Jam” of the year. It’s slow burning, smooth as fuck, soulful, sensual, and most important—it’s catchy. It’s the kind of pop song that you could imagine hearing on Top 40 radio, sung by Sam Smith, or on an “urban contemporary” station sung by….I don’t know. Who is a hot R&B singer these days? Usher? Do people still fuck with Usher? He would fucking slay at a cover of the song.

Anyway, it’s not by either of those people. It’s by a lanky white guy named Pat Grossi, who, four years ago, dropped his debut LP under the moniker Active Child. You Are All I See, seems like it came a lifetime ago, but much of it still holds up—specifically the How to Dress Well co-signed R&B groove of “Playing House,” and the epic grandeur and hypnotic harp string plucks of “Hanging On.”

Yeah, harp strings. That was Grossi’s thing, if you will—dude played the harp. And that, combined with a post-Justin Vernon falsetto, often multi-tracked and pitch shifted, it made for a dense combination of moody synth-driven pop music with an R&B edge.

In 2013, Grossi returned with an EP, Rapor, which was pretty disappointing—save for the single, “Evening Ceremony,” that had been unfortunately snagged for the soundtrack from that Stephanie Meyer sci-fi movie The Host. The rest of Rapor forsook the harp, instead plunging Grossi into a middle of the road synth pop backdrop that was pretty forgettable.

And now here we are, Grossi has returned as Active Child with Mercy, his second full-length effort. It’s not so much a “return to form,” since, again, the harp, as an instrument, has taken a backseat to glitchy beats and warm, inviting synths. But maybe he just doesn’t want to be “that guy” anymore, you know? Like, maybe playing the harp on every song was tough or something. I don’t know. I’m just a guy who writes stupid record reviews that nobody reads.

Harp, or no harp, or some harp in the background, Mercy is a much more palatable listen than Rapor, and as a songwriter, Grossi shifts heavily into writing with that R&B edge in mind—“1999” and the upbeat “Never Far Away” are the two strongest tracks on the record; the latter sounding very similar to “Playing House,” so maybe that’s why it works so well.

The drawback to Mercy, which in turn, was the draw back to You Are All I See is that it’s frontloaded with the best material—making the pacing of the record a little uneven. The album’s title track splits it in half, and then it is followed by an instrumental that segues into the back portion of the record, which is not bad necessarily—it’s just not as immediate of a listen as the first half. It has a different tone, or feeling to it. It’s heavier sounding—there is still a bit of an R&B groove, like on “Temptation,” but it’s not as playful. It’s serious, and it seems to throw things a little off balance.

Mercy arrived around two weeks ago or so, and the single, “1999” was announced earlier in the year. When I listened to it, I deemed it to be “hot fire,” but also, this year specifically, I have less time to dedicate to listening to every song that comes out by every artist. I think my thought was, “Oh hey, Active Child’s got a new joint coming out. I wonder if that will be any good. That EP he put out was kind of horrible.”

So I will admit that I have been dragging my feet on listening to Mercy, and writing some kind of review of it. But here we are—this wasn’t so bad, huh? It’s a quick listen—coming in at probably less than 40 minutes total. And even when it falters, it’s not unlistenable or intolerable—but rather, it’s still interesting. In a world where R&B is littered with big, obnoxious synths and auto-tuned vocals, Grossi is combining that 1990s “MTV Jams” feeling with a modern, forward thinking and accessible aesthetic.

Mercy is out now via Vagrant.