Antietam reviewed
Antietam
Opus Mixtum
(Carrot Top)
Antietam’s latest album, like the Civil War battle from which the band take their name, gets a little sloppy.
Perhaps wrestling with the idea they hate their fans, Antietam have dropped two separate albums of material and mixed them together: one pop rock, one instrumental, both uneven. Spread over two discs and elapsing nearly two hours, picking high points is highly subjective to mood, like Robert Pollard’s solo discs. Also like Pollard, Antietam are so indie it hurts, an East Coast version of Eleventh Dream Day (Rick Rizzo even guests) with even less notoriety, if such a thing were possible. As such, Opus Mixtum can be ho-hum (“Shipshape,” “1-2-1”), strikingly ambient (“Hasten”), and self-serving (“Tierra Del Fuego”). Melody often takes a backseat to jamming or figuring out what masters degree to seek to keep out of the job market.
— Steve Forstneger
Click here to download “Time Creeps.”
