Heart Burns

The first solo EP from Against Me! front woman Laura Jane Grace, released under her deadname Tom Gabel in 2008, before her transition and name change.

The album was timed to be released near that year’s US presidential elections. It addressed the economic and political climate at the time, and included criticism of John McCain, a republican presidential candidate:

I wanted to do something that was the complete opposite of the last record in the sense of approach. I didn’t want to really think about it. I didn’t want to obsess about anything. I just wanted to go in and play songs. I wanted to record because it’ll be fun, and that’s what this is supposed to be about. The next Against Me! record will be a long, arduous recording and mixing process, and there will be a lot of thought that goes into it. That’s not a bad thing because I love that too, but if every single record I made was like that I would go nuts.
- Laura Jane Grace (referred to by her deadname, Tom Gabel) talking to INKED in 2009.