LIVE REVIEW: Active Child (St Pancras Old Church, London)

When Pat Grossi aka Active Child sung ‘I’m in Your Church at Night’ on his 2010 EP Curtis Lane, one can only assume that this wasn’t in a literal fashion. Last week however (19^th October to be precise), he was in a church, it was at night and it was quite brilliant/rather surreal.

So apparently this central London church is quite old, hence the name St. Pancras Old Church. Wikipedia tells me it is believed to have existed since AD 314, so even before colour TV and stuff. Inside there’s no sign of a TV but lots of pretty candles and ambiguous quotes etched onto the walls. Oh and cans of Carlsberg on sale upon entry... WWJS!?

Check out The Beatles chilling outside the very same church!

Support came from Psychologist, the project of Iain Woods who himself will be familiar with the concept of a church after recording his entire EP ‘Waves of OK’ in one. He was joined at the Bema by two dudes crafting out sometimes moody Burial-esque beats and other times rave-worthy UK garage efforts. In addition were two black laden young ladies complementing the proceedings elegantly with occasional violin and backing vocals. Woods’ voice though, was the main attraction of the arrangement, moving evocatively from operatic hollers to sensual R&B crooning. It resulted in a finely balanced sound and offered multiple ear-catching moments that will most definitely keep me on the lookout for future output.

I first encountered Active Child in May of last year when he opened NME’s Radar Tour in a scarcely populated London Koko and I was immediately enchanted by the unique harp, synth and falsetto combination. Now with newly recruited electronic kit drummer and alongside the ever present bass and keyboard player, he was ready to show off debut LP ‘You Are All I See’.

When Grossi mentioned that he thought these songs would ‘fit the space the best’ his judgement was good. Based on a handful of listens, ‘You Are All I See’ is a more solemn and measured release compared to the EP and having now heard the majority of it in person, I'm more appreciative of its subtlety. ‘Hanging On’, ‘See Thru Eyes’, ‘Ancient Eye’ and ‘You Are All I See’ amongst others, all transfixing the tightly packed crowd by way of flawless choral vocals and intricate harp skills. Playing House was perhaps the only track that didn’t translate so well but that was down to the lack of How to Dress Well with Pat doing his best to fill the role of his lo-fi R&B buddy who features on the recorded version. (They really need to tour together). Of course ‘I’m in Your Church at Night’ was played during the encore. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when those euphoric synths peaked.

You’d struggle to find a more apt setting for Active Child. Personally speaking I’ll struggle to attend a more mesmerising gig in quite some time.