CJ Lawrence -- Home

CJ Lawrence cuts bone-deep in his latest album Home. Over a year in the making, Lawrence has pared away all the fluff in this urgent album about coming of age as a trans person in a world that rejects you at every turn. This is not an easy album, but it's an astonishing one for its clarity and willingness to go there.

These songs are more spoken word set to music more than they are structures with a verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse. At times discordant, at others alluring with a groove in the background (produced by Lafemmebear), Home is a series of vignettes about what it takes to survive after being betrayed by your family – and, unfortunately, the people who don't. But, as Lawrence declares in "The Closet," it's all worth it for the chance to actually live.

From the opening songs, "The Olive Branch" and "I'm Sorry," to "Please?" and "Home," Lawrence carries is on a deep trajectory: making peace with the version of yourself you have to discard to transition, cutting off relatives, searching for friends and lovers who are similarly isolated from basic social supports, and a swallowing the bitter pill of trying to connect with a family that still isn't doing enough to support you.

It doesn't need to be explained why Home is so important in this moment: even as trans youth are increasingly accepted, there are still far too many who are not and truly have nowhere to go. Lawrence illustrates in painstaking detail, with his own life, the obstacles too many of our trans siblings must traverse. Home is challenging, but in all the best ways, and it invites you to take action for the trans folks in your communities.

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