Laura Jane Grace Lets Her Love Light Shine
With an excellent new solo album, the Against Me! frontwoman reflects on matters of the heart
Love is in the air and Laura Jane Grace wants everyone to know it. Well, love and a lot of self-reflection on a life well-lived.
The musician, best known as the frontwoman for anarcho-punks Against Me!, has publicly undergone a number of public changes: most notably, her whirlwind marriage to comedian Paris Campbell Grace and the cutting of her hair in order to rock intricate head tattoos. Her new album, Hole In My Head, looks back on a lifetime as a punk icon, celebrates new places and people and gets honest about the dark times.
Since the release of Against Me!’s spectacular 2014 album, Transgender Dysphoria Blues, Grace has adopted a diary-style approach to much of her songwriting. This is particularly true in her solo career, where she has previously released two albums since 2018. At their best, like 2020’s Stay Alive, these songs feel like personal, intimate looks into Grace’s life.The same holds true of Hole In My Head.
VIDEO: Laura Jane Grace “Hole In My Head”
Hole In My Head features Grace on drums, guitar and vocals, with Drive By Truckers bassist Matt Patton holding down the low end on bass. A few of the songs on the record will draw undeniable parallels to Against Me! and not just because of who’s singing; the stripped back arrangements and bright, driving electric guitars on the title track are as energetic as Grace has sounded in nearly a decade. The song features a refrain where Grace refuses to feel less; it’s representative of the new record’s honest, emotional core.
“Birds Talk Too” is another one that recalls Against Me!, an exciting prospect now that Grace has expressed an interest in getting the band back together again. The song has a slight influence from ‘50s and ‘60s rock, something that she explores elsewhere too, like on next track and album highlight “Punk Rock in Basements.” A loving ode to house shows and an examination of punk rock’s role in 2024, Grace channels influences like Jonathan Richman and Eddie Cochran. It gives the songs a bright shimmer and a feeling that Grace has never had in her music before. Same goes for “I’m Not a Cop,” which sounds like the duo hopped in a time machine to record.
The other highlights on Hole In My Head come in acoustic form, where Grace generally strips back the curtain a little further. “Dysphoria Hoodie” tackles the topic of gender dysphoria, the meaning which she explained herself:
“This is a song about gender dysphoria and your favorite hooded sweatshirt. Any trans person out there knows what a dysphoria hoodie is — it’s the hoodie you wear when feeling low and dysphoric and you don’t want the world reading your gender,” she explains. “Hide your body shape, hide your head, and disappear as much as you can. Wrap yourself up in it like a blanket anywhere you go. Make your flesh become cotton. Instant protection from the outside world. My dysphoria hoodie happens to be an Adidas hoodie, so yes, this is in fact really just a tribute song to my favorite Adidas hoodie.”
VIDEO: Laura Jane Grace “Dysphoria Hoodie”
Released as a single, it mixes the negatives with a sense of humor, referencing KoRn’s “A.D.I.D.A.S.”
Sixth track “Cuffing Season” is the halfway point for Hole In My Head and it takes things back to acoustic guitars for the rest of the album. Recalling her folk punk roots, Grace sings lines like “If you’re not afraid to die, why don’t you fucking prove it?” over strummed chords, her tone softening as she thinks about the power love has over depression and apathy. That brightness maxes out on “Tacos & Toast,” a slice-of-life song about moving on.
Hope feels like the name of the game. “Keeping the Faith” references Bon Jovi and doom scrolling but it’s a song about good things coming if you can “just keep keep your wheels moving straight.” “Hard Feelings” sounds like it could’ve come from Stay Alive, and deals with the same darker themes that permeated that release. Dealing with the consequences of “alcohol, porn, weed and cocaine,” moving through life without taking the time to slow down. It’s a bummer tune but it sets up album closer “Give Up the Ghost,” in which Grace affirms that she’s got more in the tank—some things just might have to change to keep going.
After proclaiming that she’s not done, she sings, “I think it’s time that I give up the ghost / With the spirit gone I’ll be what I fear the most / An empty vessel, just machine at the most / But I think it’s time that I give up the ghost.”
Stay Alive was an excellent record but it was a dark one. Four years later, Grace seems to be a happier, healthy person in interviews and on social media. Life isn’t always smooth sailing and she’s honest about that, but the tone is uplifted and there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
No album is without its growing pains, just like no life is without them, but Hole In My Head is a big step in a more hopeful direction.
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