Antigone Rising

From the Ground Up

First reports of this album by all-female band Antigone Rising appeared on the business pages—the group has been plucked from obscurity by Starbucks for promotion in its corporate-coffee dives. Although there’s something disturbing about such cross-promotion, I’d have picked up the album just because of the band’s name, hoping for some semblance of classical Greek feminism. No such luck. While this is pleasant enough girl pop, it doesn’t live up to the company’s comparisons to the Indigo Girls and the Dixie Chicks. Drummer Dena Tauriello does an outstanding job, and lead singer Cassidy (one name) is more than competent, but the rest of the sound doesn’t get beyond mere adequacy, and the lyrics don’t move into the realm of “take me seriously.” Where’s Sophocles when you need him?