Laura Jane Grace has always made punk rock feel like a lifeline. With Adventure Club, her fourth solo album and maybe her most imaginative yet, the Against Me! founder trades the sweat and noise of the American punk scene for the sun-drenched ruins and iced coffees of Athens, Greece. But don’t mistake the change in scenery for a softening of edge. This is still Laura Jane Grace with razor-sharp wit, righteously pissed, and reaching deeper than ever.

The 12-track album was born from a month-long songwriting retreat made possible by a fellowship from the Onassis Foundation. What she came back with, and I don’t think this is an exaggeration to say, is a punk-rock odyssey. With help from her wife Paris Campbell Grace (vocals) and local Athens musicians Jacopo “Jack” Fokas (bass) and Orestis Lagadinos (drums), Grace channels the spirit of classic Greek mythology — love, betrayal, virtue, vice — through a lens only she could put our eyes to.

And then there’s the fun. Adventure Club doesn’t just brood or burn, it revels in the absurdity of existence. Iced coffee gets a shoutout alongside critiques of capitalism and autocracy. It’s all part of Grace’s worldview, one where breakthroughs come from confronting the bullshit. And being able to jump into the beautiful seas of Greece doesn’t hurt either.

Following 2020’s Stay Alive and last year’s Hole In My Head, Adventure Club goes even further, balancing serious political fury with a dose of hard-earned joy. These songs are urgent and personal, with never ending hooks holding their own with intense lyrics, and that unmistakable voice, always defiant and full of fight. The Trauma Tropes, as her backing band is credited, provide a tight foundation, allowing Grace to stretch out while staying grounded in her essential punk DNA. With Adventure Club, Grace offers an escape hatch from the forces trying to keep us down. Maybe that’s what the autocrats and assholes of the world don’t get - you can’t control a person who’s willing to write and sing their way out of it.