Once in a while a song sneaks through and stabs you in the heart.
If you don't pay attention to the lyrics, the first (and kind of title-) track on this record, "Talking Transgender Dysphoria Blues", sounds like a typical enough melodic punk tune - albeit a particularly rousing and catchy one. But then you actually listen to the words - possibly cued by the way the singer spits out some of the most telling of those words - and, in my case at least, the sick feeling of at least the illusion of empathy (illusion because, luckily for me, I can't actually understand how this kind of experience is to live) is throat-clenchingly piercing.
You want them to notice the ragged ends of your summer dress
You want them to see you like they see every other girl
They just see a faggot
They hold their breath not to catch the sick
... which is only added to after learning that the singer/songwriter, Laura Jean Grace, is herself transgender and transitioning to living as a woman (the voice is entirely male-sounding) and this is the band's first album since she came out as such.
The rest of the album covers similar themes, and at a pacy two to three minutes each, never lags over the listen. As a whole, musically, it's listenable rather than distinguished - but even still.
If you don't pay attention to the lyrics, the first (and kind of title-) track on this record, "Talking Transgender Dysphoria Blues", sounds like a typical enough melodic punk tune - albeit a particularly rousing and catchy one. But then you actually listen to the words - possibly cued by the way the singer spits out some of the most telling of those words - and, in my case at least, the sick feeling of at least the illusion of empathy (illusion because, luckily for me, I can't actually understand how this kind of experience is to live) is throat-clenchingly piercing.
You want them to notice the ragged ends of your summer dress
You want them to see you like they see every other girl
They just see a faggot
They hold their breath not to catch the sick
... which is only added to after learning that the singer/songwriter, Laura Jean Grace, is herself transgender and transitioning to living as a woman (the voice is entirely male-sounding) and this is the band's first album since she came out as such.
The rest of the album covers similar themes, and at a pacy two to three minutes each, never lags over the listen. As a whole, musically, it's listenable rather than distinguished - but even still.
