Mindy Scurto and Captive Frame: Reigniting Shoegaze

I recently came across the music of an indie band called Captive Frame.  With numerous releases on their Bandcamp page, I was drawn to their sound because it reminds me so much of one of my favorite shoegaze bands, Scarling. When most think of shoegaze, they instantly think of bands such as My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins, or The Jesus and Mary Chain: distorted guitars, feedback, and dreamy layered vocals encasing you in soothing waves of sound.

With an insanely creative cover of Nirvana’s “Something in the Way,” Captive Frame has found a way to showcase the perfect mix of distortion and feedback making the well-known tune feel reinvented. Other tunes such as “Walking Away” and “Seven Mondays” take the listener through an atmospheric journey of texture and sound. With so many songs to experience on their Bandcamp page, you truly need to experience their music for yourself to understand the beauty of Mindy Scurto’s voice. It’s soft, it’s haunting, it’s seductive.

Captive Frame is the brainchild of multi-talented female vocalist, Mindy Scurto, who is currently based out of Florida, and her husband, Joe, who plays lead guitar. Originally from Maine, Mindy is a graphic designer by day and a talented musician by night. Coming from a metal scene in New England, Scurto founded her own graphic design company called MK Studios, where she has taken on numerous projects for her band as well as others to give them the identity they all visually need. In addition to graphic design, Mindy also paints and loves to engross herself in fine art. With a history of over ten years in the business, Scurto formerly managed a music shop in her home state where she worked exclusively with Autistic children teaching them music and integration.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Mindy at length about her music, her life, and her passion to create as well as the current state of her band. Take a moment to learn a little more about this creative woman who knows how to captivate with not only her voice but also with her outgoing personality.

MaM: Tell us a little more about the band beginnings.

MS: Captive Frame started a long time ago back when I was living in New Hampshire.  We had a band before that was called Zounderkite and then another one called Cactus Hag. We toured all over with Cactus Hag and had a lot of fun, but my health got really bad and we ended up moving around New England a good bit. After I was misdiagnosed with diabetes, they essentially told me I was going to die, and at that point I decided we needed to get the hell out of New England because I had developed neuropathy. I couldn’t play anything, and I couldn’t do my art. In the middle of the pandemic, we decided to move to Florida in the southwestern part of the state, and that is where we currently are now.

MaM: So, what year was it that you could say that Captive Frame really got started working on material? Was it 2012?

MS: No, it was more like 2014. I remember I was still working at the music store, and I found DKFM, which is a shoegaze radio station, and I was just blown away. That kind of gave me the idea for the band and then Joe, my husband, who is a huge Siouxsie and the Banshees fan, heard this line in the song “Unrest” where she says something about a captive frame, and that really resonated with him. It symbolizes being stuck and the line really stayed with us. When we moved to Florida, we got with a producer and we had this plan and then ended up knocking out an album in a year. It just poured right out of us.

MaM: What is going on currently with the band? Any new material coming?

MS: We have the live line-up finally and we’ve only practiced twice, but the guys we have are really serious about the music, which is great. We’re not used to people taking the music seriously because we’ve been in some bad situations with band tyrants, and it just really messes up everyone’s time. The chemistry of this group is so right, and we are a super tight family. Currently practicing and working on songs.

MaM: Who makes up the current line-up of Captive Frame?

MS: I sing and then my husband, Joe, is the lead guitarist. Eric is the rhythm guitar player and then we have Richard on bass and Ghimel on drums.

MaM: I truly love your sound and it reminds me of the band Scarling. Have you ever heard of them? It was a side project of Jessicka from Jack Off Jill.

MS: Oh, no shit! That’s so funny. My old roommate from college was a Jack Off Jill maniac. That’s a great compliment. Thank you.

MaM: What would you say the future holds for Captive Frame?

MS: It would be really cool if we could get signed and we would love to travel, so we will see.

To hear Captive Frame’s music, hit one of the links below and be sure to follow them on social media, too. They are working on so many things, so stay tuned!

Bandcamp: Music | Captive Frame (bandcamp.com)

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/captiveframe/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captive_frame/?hl=en

Nicole Brice loves discovering new music. Do you have something you’d like her to listen to? Hit her up at the_nicolebrice@mixedaltmag.com.