Garbage - Let All That We Imagine Be The Light

Eight albums and three decades in, it’s likely impossible for Garbage to write and record music that wouldn’t immediately give away its creators’ identities and yet ‘Let All That We Imagine Be The Light’ is a stellar example of an artist pushing their collective boundaries while retaining full control over their artistic identity. Less abrasive than 2021’s socio-politically- driven ‘No Gods No Masters’, here the outfit’s gaze is turned inward; likely as much a case of ‘been there, done that’ as the consequence of vocalist Shirley Manson undergoing successive hip surgeries in 2023 and 2024. On album closer ‘The Day That I Met God’, Shirley shows off a delicate side to her voice that her trademark biting lyrics don’t often allow for, as ‘70s-inspired spacey synths – part Bowie, part Muse – meander around a six-minute ballad. It all clicks, of course, as soon as its refrain expands: “I found God in Tramadol” as likely a literal come-to-Jesus moment as the alt-rock icons might find. Most remarkable, though, is centrepiece ‘Radical’, a sprawling epic on which, again, Shirley’s voice treads less obvious ground. She adopts a near-monotone, understated emphasis while a crunchy bassline rumbles and ‘80s post-punk guitars meander, its hypnotic nature only adding to the track’s emotional heft.

Elsewhere, they stick closer to what one may deem the Garbage blueprint – see the gorgeously pleasing riffs of ‘Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty’ (where they deliver seemingly the politest “fuck off” heard in popular song for some time), or ‘Have We Met (The Void)’, on which a gothy stomp leads the way to a full-throttle plaster- rip, delivered with full force: “Have you motherfuckers been seein’ each other?”. Considering this alongside ‘Chinese Fire Horse’, where an electronic riff underpins musing on ageism (“You say my time is over / I should just retire” offers its opening verse), one can’t help but be reminded of the 1960s feminist slogan ‘the personal is political’. So, while they may have suggested an about-turn from their last record, it seems that, just as Garbage can’t help but sound like Garbage, Shirley Manson seemingly can’t help but offer cutting lyrics that strike chords regardless. As such, ‘Let All That We Imagine Be The Light’ sits suitably uncomfortably at the intersection between all that’s warmly familiar and wanted from the outfit, and the space to hear something new and less expected.