Garbage unveil new single, ‘There’s No Future in Optimism’
It’s unlikely that anyone could have predicted how far Garbage would soldier on when 1996’s ‘Stupid Girl’ pulled the mainstream in their electronically-coated grunge direction. Becoming one of the decade’s biggest names by accident, Garbage was forged in the 1990s’ weird intersection between remix-ready club heft and alternative guitar attack. Their debut Garbage LP still stands as a sonic document of a band keen to forge an identity in an ocean of post-grunge dross.
Nearly thirty years and several on-off hiatuses later, Garbage have announced their upcoming eighth LP Let All That We Imagine Be the Light. It’s a title that grabs with an immediate assertion of solidarity and an optimistic view of humanity, much needed in the upended societal chaos engulfing the world in the torrid political contemporary.
Shaped and burnished by the racial reckoning that exploded following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, lead single ‘There’s No Future in Optimism’ attempts to illustrate the fraught hope that can be gleaned amid a landscape overcome with confusion and collective rage. It’s the sort of task only a band as assured as Garbage could attempt.
‘There’s No Future in Optimism’s sonic flavour feels like it’s reached across the last three decades to resurrect the crunchy bombast of their early material. Fizzing drum skulks, chunky guitar heft and an infectious percolating indie chime are all welded together by the band’s seasoned production chops, draped in a dash of nostalgia without ever lapsing into retro.
It’s another slice of what Garbage do best: scuzzy pop with more swagger than there ought to be for a band whose youngest member is 58. In fact, it almost feels like a definitive effort from the group, capturing their characters in a mingled blur of originality.
While there are no surprises in the presentation, the energy captured in its songcraft keeps the cut crackling with pop cool. As always, this is owed in large part to Shirley Manson’s commanding vocals, veering between cautionary coo and beckoning allure as she sings “If you’re ready for love” almost like a bullish dare—goading you to cling to your empathy in a world that sees less stock in it day by day.
‘There’s No Future in Optimism’ won’t win any new fans, but the faithful will certainly be delighted, ushering in a new chapter for the Scottish-American outfit still charged with their combined magic as they were thirty years ago.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out New Music Newsletter
All the latest New Music from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.