Album Review: Active Child - Mercy

Pat Grossi has compromised the fierce originality of Active Child by dragging his sound backwards and planting it firmly in pop R&B territory with this new album. His careful study and assimilation of acts pulled from an early ‘90s action film love scene playlist has resulted in a slick, gorgeous record full of tiny glistening details and sincere-as-shit romantic expression that ultimately lacks credibility as a true step forward for the talented musician.

His ethereal voice is front and centre, although the choir-boy training has been dialled down in favour of a classic crooning style. The restraint allows him to get across what he’s singing about, but at the cost of that incredible and otherworldly quality that saturated the first album, You Are All I See. There’s a lot missing from this one actually, from the billowing dynamics and endless depth of his reverbed harp to the bright angelic tones of his voice — it’s largely all gone. Mercy is full of stripped-back love songs, saccharine yet cold, and although there’s a lightness to the tone (the album is largely a positive one as opposed to You Are All I See; a more dramatic, melancholy listen) there’s no real fire. The blood that clearly pumps is not hot.

It’s a slick, well produced record, with no real standouts. It’s largely inert, and that hurts given Grossi’s huge reserves of talent.