Laura Jane Grace in the Trauma Tropes : Adventure Club
The soul of good, solid punk rock lies in taking big, bold, swings at vast, political subjects, but doing so in a way that still manages to feel deeply personal—like it really is reflecting the viewpoint of a sincere, unique, and (most importantly) ferociously pissed-off individual. This is something Laura Jane Grace has always been particularly good at, but Adventure Club—buzzing, frenetic, and shamelessly confrontational—certainly represents a peak of the discipline, second only, perhaps, to Grace’s 2014 effort Transgender Dysphoria Blues. Though ‘discipline’ might not be the best way to describe the manner in which Grace lurches from target to target, track by track, refusing to give the objects of her ire any semblance of respect as she dual-wields sneering mockery and righteous anger with devastating—and very fun—results.
“WWIII Revisited,” for example—the record’s opening track—takes on the complex geopolitical crises facing our planet today, and distills Grace’s point of view on the subject into one emotive, chant-ready slogan; “I don’t wanna die in World War 3 / I don’t wanna kill for blood money.” It’s scornful, personal, and swiftly encapsulates everything that a hard-hitting punk track should aspire to be. “Mine Me Mine” shifts focus to capitalist greed, with a simple but utterly raw attack that invokes (what really ought to be) the most basic of elementary school-level morality; “You’re not the only one!” Grace yells at the wealth-hoarding Musks and Zuckerbergs of the world, simultaneously lamenting and spitting as she cries that “They found a way to sell what comes for free.” “Fuck You Harry Potter” is a powerful assertion of Grace’s identity; “I ain’t nobody that I haven’t been,” is the song’s stubborn refrain, and while there are no particular bigoted children’s authors mentioned in the lyrics, there should be little doubt as to who the track takes issue with.
Grace looks inward on the record, too, with tracks that eschew the world stage for something a little closer to home. “I Love To Get High” and “New Years Day” deal with substance abuse, while “Active Trauma” discusses the anxieties from Grace’s past that refuse to fade into the background. Far from representing a lull in energy, however, these tunes are among the most invigorating on the album, with “Active Trauma” in particular being one of the most electric, life-affirming, and totally danceable of all 12 tracks.
“Walls,” Adventure Club’s closing song, is something of an outlier, then, rounding off the record on an uncharacteristically sobering note. While the rest of the album, by and large, features songs whose music, bright and upbeat, contrasts (and, in doing so, elevates) the bleakness of their lyrics, “Walls” plays itself straight, the music marching to a slow, gloomy beat as Grace sings how “They built walls around me / To take my life away.” After such an exuberant rollercoaster of middle-finger joy and rebellion, it feels a little jarring, intended, perhaps, as a grim reminder of how easy—maybe even inevitable—it is to be kept down by the various horrors that war, capitalism, mental illness, et al., have to offer.
The irony, of course, is that if you’re looking for an antidote—even a remarkably short-term one (say, maybe, about 28 minutes long)—you could do an awful lot worse than Adventure Club. Alright, so it’s not going to save the world. But it’s packed to the brim with more than enough punk-rock spirit and unfiltered, riotous energy to leave a defiant glow in your chest long after the final note has faded.
Label: Polyvinyl
Year: 2025
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