Garbage have announced their eighth studio album ‘Let All That We Imagine Be The Light’. Find all the details below.
- READ MORE: Garbage’s Shirley Manson: “We’re losing bands from working class beginnings and risk-takers”
The 10-track follow up to 2021’s ‘No Gods No Masters’ is due for release on May 30 (pre-order/pre-save here). According to a press release, a new single from the project will arrive “in the coming weeks”.
‘Let All That We Imagine…’ was recorded at Red Razor Sounds in Los Angeles, California. Sessions also took place at drummer and producer Butch Vig’s studio, Grunge Is Dead, as well as frontwoman Shirley Manson’s bedroom.
The record was produced by Garbage and their longtime engineer Billy Bush. It contains contributions from all four original band members: Manson, Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker.
Songs titles include ‘There’s No Future In Optimism’, ‘Chinese Fire Horse’, ‘Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty’ and ‘The Day That I Met God’. You can see the full tracklist and cover artwork below.
The tracklist for Garbage’s ‘Let All That We Imagine Be The Light’ is:
‘There’s No Future In Optimism’
‘Chinese Fire Horse’
‘Hold’
‘Have We Met (The Void)’
‘Sisyphus’
‘Radical’
‘Love To Give’
‘Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty’
‘R U Happy Now’
‘The Day That I Met God’
Last week, the band revealed on social media that they had “a new record coming out this year”. Now, NME Icon Award-winner Manson has shared further details about the forthcoming LP in a lengthy statement.
“Our last album was extremely forthright. Born out of frustration and outrage – it had a kind of scorched earth, pissed off quality to it,” she explained. “With this new record however, I felt a compulsion to reach for a different kind of energy. A more constructive one. I had this vision of us coming up out of the underground with searchlights as we moved towards the future.
“Searching for life, searching for love, searching for all the good things in the world that seem so thin on the ground right now. That was the over-riding idea during the making of this record for me – that when things feel dark, it’s best to try to seek out that which is light, that which feels loving and good. When I was young, I tended towards the destruction of things. Now that I’m older I believe it’s vitally important to build and to create things instead. I still entertain very old romantic ideals about community, society and the world. I don’t want to walk through the world creating havoc, damaging the land and people. I want to do good. I want to do no harm.”
Mason went on: “Going into making this record, I was determined to find a more hopeful, uplifting world to immerse myself in. The title of the album, ‘Let All That We Imagine Be The Light’ is the perfect descriptor for this new record as a whole. When things feel dark it feels imperative to seek out forces that are light, positive and beautiful in the world. It almost feels like a matter of life and death. A strategy for survival.”
As for the opening track, Manson added: “I really wanted [‘There’s No Future In Optimism’] to open the album. It starts out with an anthemic call to arms, a clarion call. It’s pretty much a rallying cry to all likeminded people. If you are interested in meeting this world with love, if you are willing to invest in tenderness and not violence or hate, then we are with you. You should come with us.”
She continued: “I have to believe that music and art can still impact culture. I know it still impacts me – that mysterious power which no government on earth can co-opt or buy. Great music exists entirely within its own microcosm in a way – without any interference or corruptive influences. That’s what always makes it so pure and precious. Even though all the pointers in our society say otherwise, I do feel music still has the power to shift atoms, shift thinking and shift positions.”
Vig commented: “We used a lot of analogue synths and sound design on the album, as they seemed to fit the dystopian vibes we were all experiencing. We started recording the album with a clean slate, although given what’s happening in the US and the rest of the world, it’s inevitable that the madness starts to infiltrate the songs. But we definitely wanted the record to have some hope, some light, to convey the feeling that people have the power.”
The record is described as “unmistakably Garbage”, boasting “all the hallmarks and signatures for which they are known”. These include “big angular guitars, precise, propulsive beats and cinematic soundscapes” that “lurk beneath Shirley Manson’s unmistakable voice, her lyrics bristling with attitude”.
It is said that Manson and co. are “at the peak of their creative powers” on the record, “characteristically harnessing sonic juxtapositions and moods to create an album that thrums equally with both light and shade”.
Last spring, Manson told NME that Garbage were” looking for shards of life and humanity” while working on their eighth full-length effort. She said at the time that she was “really delighted” by the response to ‘No Gods No Masters’ – which reached Number Five in the UK.
“Going into this next record, I feel a shift,” Manson added. “I’m trying to dampen my outrage. As a society, we’ve become so beaten down and broken-hearted. I’m trying to reach for something that’s a little bigger than me, because if I don’t then I’m going to drown in my own dismay.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the singer spoke about the risk of losing “bands coming from working class beginnings and any middle class of musicians”. She told NME: “Somebody in government needs to go and help them out, because this is not right. It’s abusive.”
In a four-star review, NME hailed ‘No Gods No Masters’ as “not only Garbage’s best album in 20 years – at least – but one that could only have been made now”.
The post Garbage announce new album ‘Let All That We Imagine Be The Light’: “Searching for love, searching for all the good things in the world” appeared first on NME.