Against Me!
Transgender Dysphoria Blues | Total Treble Music
This is the first album Against Me! has released since lead singer Laura Jane Grace came out as a transgender woman. Given the title, it’s hard not to listen to the album as a personal confession.
The album title may imply a wallowing confessional, and a depressing one at that, but that simply isn’t the case. When Grace sings on the title track, “they want to see you like they see every other girl,” or shouts “all of my life wishing I was one of them” on “Drinking with the Jocks” she sings aggressively without a hint of depressed wallowing.
At its core, Transgender Dysphoria Blues is very much in Against Me!’s vein: fast, aggressive, and in some instances, angry. Moreover, all of the songs are not much more than three minutes, bringing the full album to a length of less than 30 minutes. In essence, it is very much a punk record, a genre of rock that has always been open to those outside the mainstream.
—Jesse Mellott
