It’s almost impossible to talk about this album,
or Against Me! generally, without
touching on Laura Jane Grace coming out as transgender: not least because everything about Transgender Dysphoria Blues (including, but well beyond, its title
and cover art) refers to it. Grace has
made her situation as a woman previously having to live as a man, and her
decision to come out to the world (a world, for her, full of macho rock fans) a
real boon. Few records can boast this
level of honesty and emotional depth. Of
course, much of Transgender Dysphoria
Blues – as the name suggests – deals with the negative themes like
isolation, difference, intolerance and so on, but the record also has a life
affirming element to it too: there’s a celebration
of being who you are irrespective of what other people think or say. Of course, all this lyrical weight still
needs some good tunes to hang on, and there are plenty of brilliant rock songs
on the album. The song-writing is
perhaps not quite as good as the band’s 2007 masterpiece New Wave, but it’s as good as anything else that they’ve done
previously (Transgender Dysphoria Blues
is album six). They rock as hard as
ever, and Grace’s voice is just as vital and guttural as on previous records.
Grunge was always about emotional honesty, but this is about as genuine as rock
music gets. Heart-breaking and
heart-warming in equal measure. Not to
be missed.
sample
track: Transgender Dysphoria Blues