ACTIVE CHILD – Rapor EP
1. She Cut Me
2. Subtle (feat. Mikky Ekko)
3. Feeling Is Gone
4. Silhouete (feat. Ellie Goulding)
5. Calling In The Name Of Love
6. Evening Ceremony
Although a harp marks a quite spectacular and remarkable instrument – especially in the context of popular music – it’s also a quite limiting one, you must confess. Maybe Pat Grossi saw it the same way and decided to step a bit aside from this trademark on the upcoming Rapor EP by his alter ego ACTIVE CHILD. The six-track strong release follows the critically acclaimed 2011 debut album You Are All I See. A record that was defined by Grossi’s hypnotic harp play and his enigmatic falsetto voice. After conquering the blogosphere with his gentle little pop tunes he’s now about to return – on October the 22nd to be exactly.
Rapor takes us back to the fascinating epic but also psychedelic electropop that we highly enjoyed two years ago. The two minute long intro track She Cut Me sees a return to the world of ACTIVE CHILD. But this world is about to change, even if it’s just a bit. The second song Subtle, a duet with r’n’b shooting star MIKKY EKKO is the musical proof of it. Grossi unveils a very sensual and grooving piece of r’n’b pop. It’s less indefinite and more focussed, quite self confident. Well, it wouldn’t work anyway when you have to compete with EKKO.
The second duet on the album is Silhouette, a collaboration with British pop sensation ELLIE GOULDING. She’s returning the favour since she covered Grossi’s Hanging On for her 2012 album Halcyon. The two unite for a romantic and soulful ballad which clearly marks the strongest moment on the new EP. Like on the dreampop-like tune Calling In The Name Of Love the harp is missing and also the ghostly touch of previous ACTIVE CHILD songs. You can clearly sense that he became more confident in terms of songwriting, singing and producing the music. Grossi doesn’t need to hide himself anymore. Well, he never actually had to, in our opinion.
And as Evening Ceremony ends Rapor as a gentle lullaby (including the harp) it looks like this is just the start of something bigger. ACTIVE CHILD stepped out of the hazy fog that’s called dreampop and is ready to discover new musical territories. The blogosphere is not enough anymore, the world is waiting for this man to be discovered.
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