“This brief glow will disappear in time, and I hope it’s love I leave behind.”
Having made a name for themselves since finding a home at Fearless Records in 2019, Florida post-hardcore quintet Capstan has spent the past seven months steadily rolling out a number of singles ahead of the release of their third full-length studio album, The Mosaic. Exemplifying its namesake artform with eighteen tracks and a runtime just north of an hour, this latest record sees Capstan piecing together a number of different sounds and influences to form what proves to be the group’s most expansive project yet.
From confronting oppressive and exploitative power structures on the aggressive “Bête Noire”, the pop-punky, anthemic catchiness of “Arrows” and “Heart to Heart”, to sentimental piano ballad “Bloom”, the first four of the record’s seven singles were actually packaged together as the nulla. EP in the closing stages of 2023. Followed by the juxtaposingly bright “Misery Scene”, another harder cut in “Empire”, and the distinctly 80s-inspired “What You Want”, Capstan had already covered quite a bit of sonic ground—and there are still eleven more songs to go.
While The Mosaic does skew a bit more towards the melodic end of the spectrum, the harder-hitting tracks across the record do well to balance things out and help keep Capstan grounded in their heavier roots. “Bête Noire”, “Empire”, and “Final Words” are all fine, generally serviceable and inoffensive metalcore-leaning cuts. Clichéd lyrical themes and misplaced record scratches place “Undertow” as a piece of The Mosaic that doesn’t quite hit for me, whereas “Hailey” pairs a melodic hardcore slant with soaring guitars in one of my favorites from the record. Elsewhere, some fun, proggy guitar work elevates second half opener “II. Revise”, while late album entry “Moloch” is low key the heaviest two minutes across the entire record.
While Capstan have always had a melodic side to their sound, The Mosaic sees the quintet leaning into it harder than ever before, though it is to varying degrees of success. Opening track “I. Revolve” effectively lays the groundwork for the rest of the record, opening with delicate layered vocals while the track steadily builds before bursting open in explosive fashion. “Misery Scene” keeps the momentum going from there, sounding almost joyous as its lyricism challenges the idea of the tortured artist and the glorification of mental health struggles in art. “An Open Letter” is a brief, nostalgic throwback to the acoustic pop-punk and emo of the 2010s, feeling earnest, cozy, and familiar. Aforementioned “Bloom” fills a similar role as far as being nostalgic and familiar goes, though the piano ballad is tedious in its slower build and feels overly sentimental and gratuitous.
While the 80s synthwave-inspired “What You Want” was one of the more divisive singles amongst listeners, I personally love it as a moment of levity sandwiched between two heavier tracks to close out the first half of the record. It’s the piece of The Mosaic that goes the most against the grain, but it’s fun, it’s vibey, and it’s got funky bass and a saxophone to boot. It’s also a notable example of where the constant ebb and flow of energy across The Mosaic’s runtime works in a way that isn’t overly jarring, whereas the same cannot be said for the transitions between tracks like “Bloom” and “Empire” or “Moloch” and “What Can I Say”.
Whether a particular track or section of the record resonates with me or not, the ever-shifting nature of The Mosaic and the variety of different soundscapes Capstan explores across its runtime do well to keep me engaged throughout. No track exemplifies this more than the record’s own title track—I love a grandiose closer that ends things with a bang, and “III. The Mosaic” is a ten minute long behemoth that is a journey in and of itself. Weaving together many of the various aspects of their sound demonstrated thus far, the closing number is proggy, heavy, and groovy one minute, then somber and overlaid with piano and strings the next.
With a record as far-reaching as The Mosaic, I don’t expect every track to appeal to every listener’s taste. And though I think the album could stand to have some of the fat trimmed off of it, whatever your preferred iteration of the group’s sound is, there are sure to be some tracks here worth your attention. While not every individual piece of The Mosaic may have landed with me, I can at least appreciate the bigger picture of what Capstan has presented with this project and I look forward to seeing how they might evolve their sound next.
7/10
The Mosaic is set to release this Friday May 24th via Fearless Records. You can find pre-orders for the record, as well as tickets for Capstan’s ongoing supporting run for Belmont and Can’t Swim, here