Active Child: TAS In Session
Not many bands claim the harp as one of their defining sounds, but Active Child's Pat Grossi has brought that ethereal instrument, prodded by electronic rhythms and soundscapes, into the mix as the striking accompaniment to his thoughtful, choirboy vocals.
The band, now a trio, released its debut album, You Are All I See, on Vagrant Records in August and they have been steadily touring in support of that dreamy, melancholy release, supporting M83 on the road this fall. That tour wraps this week with two sold-out gigs at Webster Hall on November 22 and Music Hall of Williamsburg on November 23. After a brief hiatus, they'll launch an Australian tour in February.
Earlier this month, Active Child released a deluxe edition of You Are All I See, available exclusively through iTunes, which features four new tracks, including a new single, "Diamond Heart," a Chad Valley remix of "Playing House" and a live recording of "Hanging On," done for The Alternate Side and WFUV in Studio A, which can be seen in all of its video glory below.
When Grossi and his bandmates, drummer Brennan Rhodes and bassist/keyboardist Stratton Easter, visited The Alternate Side recently, they also discussed the very personal nature of the new album and played additional songs, like "High Priestess" and "Johnny Belinda."
Listen to the session this Friday, November 25 on TAS on 91.5 WNYE at 11 a.m. ET or streaming on The Alternate Side.
Alisa Ali: So you’re a trio now? Is that what’s going on?
Patrick: We’re officially a trio now. We recently linked up with Brennan about six months ago and we’ve been touring ever since.
Alisa: Last time you came, you were a duo and it was for the Curtis Lane EP. I read the press release on the new record and you were quoted as saying that this debut album is something you can look back on and say, "Damn, I did it." Were there moments of doubt? Was it tough putting this together?
Patrick: No, it was easy. It was pie. No, just kidding. There was a lot of personal pressure to make something that was better than anything I’d released before and you always have insecurities about whether or not you can do it [and] whether people will like it. I was excited at the end of the whole process, when I sat down and listened to it a few times, [thinking we] did good. So I’m proud of it, that’s for sure.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZyemo1fYV4]
Alisa: Pat, I understand that you wrote the songs for this records as much for yourself as you did for the individual listener.
Pat: I don’t know if I pulled it off so much. It ended up, at the end of the day, feeling pretty personal to me. It seems like people are connecting with a lot of the general moods and storylines. A lot of the songs are just troubled relationships, lost loves and people you miss. People who might miss you. I feel like everyone can relate to that and has had good and bad experiences with love and love lost. Other tracks, like “You’re All I See,” is a track where I wanted to be more optimistic about things.
Alisa: Did you feel like it was a little bit darker than you wanted?
Pat: Yeah, it did turn out a little darker than I expected. It’s an incredibly personal record for me. I find myself sometimes thinking, “I don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into, playing these songs every night.” But at the same time, everyone can lose themselves in it for a little bit.
Alisa: If you’re writing music, it’s got to come from a very personal place which is why I thought it was interesting that you said you were writing these songs for just everyone, not just you.
Pat: I think every songwriter does, to a certain extent, hope their songs will resonate with people and their own lives. The lyrics won’t be so specific.
Alisa: Did you put details in there about your personal life that you thought, let me delete that.
Pat: Yeah, there are a few moments like that where you want to use a name or specific places or addresses.
Alisa: What’s the difference between the EP and the full-length? Were there any ideas that you had in going in to make the full-length that you wanted to change? Stylistically speaking?
Pat: Definitely. The EP for me was an amalgamation of songs that I had written and really my first few months of exploring my own recording process and stuff like that. So the songs had less of a personal connection for me. They were all over the place as far as moods and rhythms and I think I wanted to focus on creating something that was a little more cohesive and had a consistent mood throughout. I wanted a lot more harp in there to give it a more classical vibe and steer away from the more dancier, 80s stuff.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8TQgiuxoP0]
Alisa: You’ve been getting a lot of comparisons to Bon Iver and James Blake. I’m surprised more people don’t throw the Joanna Newsom thing at you.
Pat: I don’t know. You get that sometimes because of the harp, but I think she’s in her own world. But all of these artists are. People just to go, “He’s got falsetto: Justin Vernon.” Or, “He uses dub and a drum kit, so he’s James Blake.” It’s kind of lazy.
Alisa: I think your sound is so unique and I’m really impressed with it, but you go out on the road with School of Seven Bells, White Rabbits and Islands — different genres. What are those shows like? You’re very different from the other acts on the bill.
Pat: It is. In general people respond postively more often than not. People who are going to gigs and who are actually that interested in music, they pick up on things. We’ve toured with White Lies in the UK which was probably one of the stranger combinations, just because they were really massive shows of 3-5000 people and most of the fan base was 13 to 18. So it was a younger crowd, but they definitely seemed to pick up on stuff and find [things] they liked about the music.
Alisa: What do you reckon your demographic is? Not 13 to 18?
Pat: No, I think it tends to be more 20-28. Now that the album’s come out, I’m starting to get an idea of who our fan base is because we’ve always been support, so it’s hard to separate the two. But now, you play a show and you assume that people are there for you. It’s kind of crazy. Different races and age groups. Old folks in the back, trying to get their church on.
Alisa: Talk about the production behind the new record. Is it something you spent a lot of time and labor over? The record sounds very immaculate. Everything is precisely in place.
Pat: I worked with a producer on this album which took things to that next level of being balanced, mixed well and mastered by great people with great ears. It took a while, but it was worth every second of work and stress about getting things to sound correctly. I worked with producer Ariel Rechtshaid who lives out in LA and who has worked with a bunch of artists like Glasser and Cass McCombs. He’s a really talented guy and we clicked on so many levels musically. I came in with a bunch of demos and we started breaking things down, rerecording, stripping things back and picking out some nice, fresh sounds.
Alisa: Did you record Curtis Lane in your bedroom?
Pat: It was all over the place: my room in Denver, a house in LA that I was living in.
Alisa: So [being in a studio] was a new experience?
Pat: A very fun experience for sure, to get into a space and have a bunch of new toys, new synths to tweak.
Alisa: Is that your old harp, though?
Pat: This is my old harp.
Alisa: What’s that girl’s name?
Pat: Old Bessie. We’ve been through a few tours together (laughs).
Alisa: Is it really Old Bessie?
Pat: No, I just made that up. I don’t have a name.
Alisa: Get on that!
Pat: Now you’re putting bad vibes on the harp.
Alisa: Sorry, sorry!
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRFI2PJBxDg]
Alisa: Have you gotten any offers to do some duets or sing on other people’s records?
Pat: No, I haven’t.
Alisa: Is there anyone you’d like to do a duet with?
Pat: I’m totally open for collaborations with other singers or producers. So hey, Björk? Wake up! I’m ready! Let’s go! I’m gonna be in Iceland in a month, let’s hang out!
Alisa: Björk would be your top choice?
Pat: Obviously, yes. She’s amazing. She’s the queen.
Alisa: Your voice is really notable in the Active Child sound, but the instrumentation is really impressive too. How much time do you guys spend on the arrangements? Are there moments where it just clicks and you can get a song done in an hour?
Pat: You can get the rough skeleton of a song pretty quick, but it changes.“Johnny Belinda,” the song we just played, took a long time, getting a rhythm structure to it because it’s really spacy. But it was really fun to explore some of the different sounds, like the timpani, the crazy, church chimes and all the strings and try to really create this cinematic moment at the end of the album.
Alisa: I like that you included an instrumental track on the record too.
Pat: “Ivy.” That’s a good one.
Alisa: Really showing off your chops there.
Pat: You get a little overwhelmed with the vocals after a while. You need a little breather from the wall of falsetto, so I think it was a nice time to step back and have a little break.
Alisa: Your version of jamming out.
Pat: A little jam intermission.
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_jtkQuhCEg]
