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If this were the 90s people would be calling this "new-age" music, you know, one of those weird genre titles that never really caught on. But I wouldn't blame them. The heavenly sounds produced by Active Child are really hard to describe. Today, it would probably be acceptable to categorize them as chillwave.
The singing isn't the usual indie-kid falsetto that's so popular nowadays but instead it actually sounds like Pat Grossi could easily step on as an opera understudy. Adding to the opera theme, many of the melodies are created with the help of Grossi's twinkling harp.
After a few quiet tracks the album lurches into a booming witch-house number (Playing House) with bass stabs that would sound right at home on a Salem record. Grossi rests his voice on the bright instrumental "Ivy" and closes it all out with the dramatic "Johnny Belinda".
Grossi's unique blend of electronic and theatrical music is sort of like a more hip, male version of celtic artist Enya, who also happens to be fond of the harp. I look forward to seeing Active Child play for a second time at Fitzgerald's on the 3rd.
Grade: A-
Last night I had the good fortune to see Canadian indie rockers Islands at Mango's Cafe. My friend Rock even arranged a video interview with them and I helped the interviewer brush up, very quickly, on her Islands info which earned me a seat, in back while it was going on. Nicholas Thorburn, the front-man of Islands and co-founder of the iconic but since broken up Unicorns, was cool but also a total headcase. It pissed me off a little bit since he implied that Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade stole ideas from Islands and that Islands was around before Wolf Parade, which is not true. Whatever though. He's an artist and lots of artists have a messiah complexes. The two opening bands, Steel Phantoms and Active Child, hailing from Brooklyn and LA respectively, were incredible. Active Child consisted of two guys: one on bass, the other on harp and synth. The vocals were ethereal, operatic, and very different from standard indie fare. Piquing my post-punk nerd sensibilities Active Child even played a cover of posthumously the released Joy Division song "Ceremony" which I immediately recognized. Islands were just as good as I'd hoped with their zany old synths and poppy beats. Their latest album, Vapours, is a bit more electronic than the other two works in their catalogue and the keyboard playing definitely hails back to The Unicorns. Overall it was a good night at Mango's and I will link to the Free Video Houston interview with Islands when it goes up on the web.
