The Key

For an album that’s supposedly all about intimate engagement with its audience, Active Child‘s You Are All I See sure likes to keep listeners at a distance. Pat Grossi has said the band’s debut full-length is “an attempt to build a bridge between the listener and I, in that, I wrote these songs for you as much as I did for me. And right now when you are listening to my voice, by yourself, it really is just you and I.” Yet—outside of Grossi’s shimmering harp lines and choir-boy falsetto—You Are All I See is primarily defined by the empty space between the occasional synth line, minimal drum-machine beats, and layered vocals. From a songwriting perspective, that is territory most bands would try to fill with as many blips and bloops and other electronic flourishes as possible, until it was overflowing with ideas; it’s to Grossi’s credit—and the album’s benefit—that he’s able to rein in such impulses. But make no mistake: This is a cold, cold record, even if that’s not Grossi’s intention. Despite how much Active Child wants to keep you close, You Are All I See proves that it’s in the band’s nature to push you away. (The London-based electro/synth-pop outfit Young Athletes League—which is making its US debut on this tour—opens.) Active Child performs with Young Athletes League at 7 p.m. at First Unitarian Church’s Side Chapel; tickets to the all-ages show are $10–$12.

Are indie-folk junkies finally over musicians who hole up in an isolated cabin to write their masterpiece of an album? If the answer is a resounding “YES,” well, James Vincent McMorrow wants you to forget the process and focus on the finished product. Truth be told, the Irish singer-songwriter’s debut full-length, 2010′s Early In The Morning, was written during a period of self-imposed seclusion. (To be fair, it was in a beach house, not a log cabin in the middle of the woods.) Thankfully, McMorrow’s songs—which consist of lingering harmonies over restrained instrumentals—speak for themselves, regardless of how they came together. The arrangements often make it difficult to hear the lyrics at first; once identified, however, they’re clearly the crux of each song, telling environmental and humanistic tales. Sure, the line “Sea is not my friend / seasons they conspire / still I choose to swim” probably could have been conceived someplace other than a shack near the sea. But who knows? Maybe McMorrow really was in mid-backstroke when he came up with it. James Vincent McMorrow performs with Christopher Paul Steling at 9 p.m. at Johnny Brenda’s; tickets to the 21+ show are $12. —Caitlyn Grabenstein