For the purpose of illustration, let’s take a look back at Falling Up’s sophomore release, Dawn Escapes. Probably the most enduring, or shall we say captivating, image from the album was that of a dilapidated yet resilient house, being swallowed by an ocean of water. Now fast-forward to Captiva, and imagine a band still contained within the house of its own musical style, but infused with energy as powerful and unpredictable as water. Water as an oceanic, enveloping force appears in the words of “A Guide to Marine Life” – “Float by open windows/ What a shipwreck/ What a shipwreck.” It streams and then surges into a cascade during “Arc to Archtilles.” This pattern ebbs and flows and brings a dynamic to the album that straight-out rock could never accomplish.

The first single from Captiva is “Hotel Aquarium” and will likely be considered one of the more standout songs on the album, though it is not necessarily the most representative. Actually, it is the title track that manages to serve that purpose, being the median for the album’s other songs. “Captiva” can be seen as sort of the standard by which we call “Hotel Aquarium” more energetic and “The Dark Side of Indoor Track Meets” more ambient and piano-driven.

“Maps” is the song that shows the most departure from older albums; for one thing, audible acoustic guitar and piano are its primary instruments. My personal favorite, however, is “Good Morning Planetarium,” a positive rock ballad that gives the question and answer: “Is anybody out there as cold and incomplete inside? I can hear Him calling, ‘Come and follow Me, My child.’” These words reflect a mature album that avoids the trap of drowning out the message with the music, one that is sure to captivate anyone willing to listen.

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