A Best Third Release Honorable Mention in the 2007 Awards
The third release from Falling Up features a lot of musical expansion and diversification.
Forgoing a first-track musical buildup, they instead get right to it with “A Guide To Marine Life”. Its music— which shows their new, wide expansion— rises and falls in steps, and this intriguing track also has an appealing chorus.
Then follows “Hotel Aquarium”, an excellent, rhythmic rock track with the most straightforward lyrics (all the way through) that they’ve ever sung. It’s one of their all-time best.
Quite different-sounding track “Goodnight Gravity” contains an interesting use of synths underneath the rock guitars and vocals (which are both more conventional than their usual style).
Title track “Captiva” is also somewhat different musically from their previous work; but it does contain the same kind of artistic lyrics. 
The vocal harmonies in the chorus and bridge are quite good, and the song finishes with a thoughtful instrumental outro.
“Helicopters” is quite different musically, especially in the verses, which are slower and somewhat dark; and the artistic lyrics (also especially in the verses) are very vague.
“Maps” contains a bit of a surprise— in comparison to their other work, its music is actually medium-light rock.
“How They Made Cameras” features part-artistic/part-straightforward lyrics, and equally part-familiar/part-different music. It’s an excellent track.
“Good Morning Planetarium” again musically mixes both familiar and new elements, and it has quite straightforward lyrics, too.
“Murexa” (its title— as explained by frontman Jessy Ribordy— referring to a rare type of shell found in the ocean) features great, energetic full rock, which builds further in the chorus; and showcases a bit higher vocal range than we’ve heard from Jessy before.
“Drago Or The Dragons” is another rock track, this one darker in tone; and while some of this track’s lyrics are downright puzzling, that’s not really a surprise. The song ends with a rhythmic, engaging, and quite cool beat/synth instrumental.
The intriguing “Arch To Achtilles” musically builds throughout from a piano to full rock; then the end steps down to a piano once more.
Finally, closer track “The Dark Side Of Indoor Track Meets” is excellent musically, with a perfect rising/falling quality between different portions of the song. And the way the chorus vocals are harmonized with each other and with the music underneath is also excellent (and very catching). The piano outro fades into an at-first rather suspenseful synth instrumental, which eventually changes tone and then stops.
Our rating for Captiva: 5 Stars. 