Antigone Rising’s new CD, “From the Ground Up,” is a mellow mix of indie rock, country twang ballads and classic rock beats. The five-member, all-female rock band out of New Jersey has been compared to the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Lynyrd Skynyrd by the New York Post.
The Associated Press has drawn comparisons between Antigone’s lead singer, Cassidy (she does not use a surname) and the great Janis Joplin.
Current music greats, such as Aerosmith and Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, have asked the band to open for them, and the band has even written a few songs with Thomas.
With the amount of press the band has recently received comparing them to personal favorites such as Joplin and Skynyrd, I had to check out “From the Ground Up” myself.
I have played Antigone for the past week and was reminded of legends like Stevie Nicks, but the band’s songwriting/music-making ability is obviously still under development.
“From the Ground Up,” an acoustic album recorded in front of a small audience of the band’s friends and family, was released in more than 4,000 Starbucks stores across the country.
If I hadn’t been told, I would have thought it was a one-woman production with a few rather stagnant guitar chords and only one voice ever being heard on vocals. The slightly throaty voice of Cassidy and the lack of any notable drum beats started giving the album a folky feel toward its end.
Many songs start off strong but lose steam quickly, reverting back to repetitions of the chorus that soon grow tiresome.
Some lyrics, such as, “She’s cool in all her discontent/She knows it’s always been the same/She’s fine/She’s not ignorant,” from the song “She’s Not Innocent,” shout the girl-power vibe the band has earned a reputation for.
Other songs are reminiscent of the whiny melodies of many current female singers who complain of lost love and loneliness.
The song “Don’t Look Back” starts off powerful but slows to an inconclusive end with the lyrics, “So you ask me why I’m not crying/I did all of my crying before I took off my pity party dress/and I don’t dance no more.”
The beats of Antigone also tend to start off solid but quickly regress into a monotonous sound.
These women have the potential for greatness, but their lack of consistent creativity won’t earn them nods with the rock icons they are compared to anytime soon.
While declaring themselves the answer to pop music, Antigone Rising’s release fails to live up to that promise.
Antigone Rising will perform with Rob Thomas Oct. 30 at Nokia Theatre in Grand Prairie.
-Beth Wreford