Captiva, the alt-rock quartet from Kansas City, MO, have unveiled their video for “Road to Ruin”, off their self-titled EP released late last year, and it is an enthralling work that is every bit as bewitching as its magician protagonist. The video is gorgeously shot, alternating between the dim, dingy backstage quarters of the aforementioned lounge magician and country roads that wind along lush, pastoral landscapes all captured with a visual skill that matches the distortion-charged elegance of the track. The overall result is a video with a spiraling narrative you won’t want to take your eyes off of.
The video for “Road to Ruin” opens with the rather mundane sight of the magician entering his dressing room and unpacking his bag of tricks, but from there, it’s an exuberant, sweeping tale set amongst an array of memories and narratives that dovetail into one another with beguiling precision. There is a push/pull editing technique that’s used so well in the video that it seems made specifically to match the song’s jittery rhythm, which beautifully builds and breaks tension throughout. As the magician’s amore grows tired of watching the same old tricks lose their magic slowly over time, the video builds to a climax that is at once euphoric and devastating as the viewer must choose for themselves where to place the events among the present and past.
While the magician of “Road to Ruin” may dabble in some of the most cliched of parlor tricks, the visuals and narrative have a tragic, romantic magic all their own. Captiva has already begun to make a name for themselves by playing such world-class stages as SXSW and opening for current chart toppers Twenty One Pilots, but this video will no doubt garner them many more followers, something very impressive for a band that just three years ago met for the first time while serving a high school detention sentence. Now, as Captiva prepares to embark on a tour of the Midwest in support of their self-titled EP, the video for “Road to Ruin” is a testament to the fact that they’re an act with plenty more left up their sleeve.
You can follow Captiva on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SoundCloud, and YouTube.
