Punk rock legend LJG is back with a new release out 18th July 2025 and it is everything you want it to be from the pounding drum intro on the very first song to the last, which is an atmospheric adaptation of a century-old Greek poem by Constantine P. Cavafy conveying isolation and doubt. Which was the project Grace worked on following an invitation by the Onassis Foundation to Greece that spiralled into this potent yet hilarious work of art.
The lyrical geniuses new album hits you straight in the face with immediate impact leaving your refreshed by a new wave of politically astute angst ridden poetry, seamlessly sewn together by electrifying guitars. This new release is 12 tracks of pure powerful relatability. Grace has been happily playing solo since her epochal punk band Against Me! took a break 2020 until this mix of musicians found each other on her Greek adventure.
With songs such as ‘Your God (God’s dick)’ Grace has sure made peace with upsetting the status quo and making an anthems out of it. Perhaps the most relatable song on the album, it’s well put together, I can already envision crowds chanting it back to her live. Never failing to bring the passion, angst and rhythm, this time coupled with the complimentary Vocals of her wife Paris, completed with Orestis Lagadinos on Drums and Bassist Jacopo Fokas. LJG still speaks to people on such a raw, honest and relatable level it’s admirable. To knock out so many killer tracks over her 44 years of punk rock existence is no small feet. She is still the godmother the LGBTQIA+ community needs, so much so she offers us a track called ‘Fuck you Harry Potter’. I’m told this song is less of a JK Rowling diss track and more an “retelling of the moment when a soused Englishman at a bar near Grace’s St. Louis studio insisted that she reminded him of Eddie Redmayne.” After which “She went home and wrote this ripper.”.
Other personal highlights for me include ‘Wearing Black’, the familiar tale of being a punk at a pride parade in which Grace quite rightly declares her “Pride is a riot” not a parade which no doubt needs to be sung. Aswell as diving into sobriety and getting older on this album, she has a song called ‘I Love To Get High’ which is a “Tragicomic blast about enjoying weed so much it no longer works but still trying anyway” that will ring true for anyone that’s been on that journey and perhaps act as a heads up for anyone not quite that far along. This album is not short of the self acceptance and protest songs that we have grown to love from Laura Jane Grace.
Check out the new album you are going to love it.