Garbage: Allow the Light In

“I believe that the old world has ended and a new one is emerging, and it’s up to us to decide what that new world will look like.” — Shirley Manson The conclusion she ultimately reached was love. “My only guideline was that everything created for this album should come from a place of love. Not from anger or outrage, but rather from my perspective in the world with love.” This is a bold statement, especially coming from a band known for its emotionally charged hits like ‘Only Happy When It Rains’ and ‘Stupid Girl’, yet they deliver it convincingly. Take for instance the opening track ‘There’s No Future In Optimism’, which, despite its title, lyrically contradicts the sentiment over a pulsating dance-punk rhythm, or the recent release ‘Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty’, which stands as a spirited declaration of strength in challenging times (“If you can’t join them / You’ve got to beat them”). In today’s world, we are inundated with anger. Online comments, opinion pieces, cultural battles, authoritarianism, climate change, and human rights regressions, not to mention the backlash fueled by rage against all these issues. Love may seem like an unconventional weapon, but it could be even more essential. As Shirley highlights, it is also considerably scarce. “I feel as though love is currently in short supply,” she observes. “It has become somewhat of a dated term, regarded as cliché and corny, and it has been expressed in countless ways, leading to a certain weariness among us. However, for me, it felt crucial and necessary to inject my love into a world I saw as destructive, chaotic, and brutally cruel, rife with intolerance and division.” Importantly, while she viewed love as a remedy for hatred, she also recognized it as a solution to the sense of powerlessness that easily consumes us in an era marked by incessant crises. “As a human being, I have no control over that,” she states plainly, “I’m just one person, and I realized that the only thing I can do is share my love. That’s the only way to counteract the horrific forces in the world today, which seem to engulf us in despair, misery, and confusion.” However, Shirley also notes other sources of hope, such as the surge of politically charged music emerging from grassroots movements worldwide. “I admire all these bands that are rising up against authority and challenging what has been a notably polite couple of decades in music,” she acknowledges. Another source of optimism, she believes, is the anticipated international social awakening. “It feels like the final cries of an old, white male fixation on capitalism, doesn’t it?” she posits. “It appears that rampant capitalism has hit its limits and is unsustainable. These older white men are reacting with anger towards the modern world because they see their aspirations being crushed and rejected, which is fueling their rage and causing them to strike out at all of us.” “There must be a reason for the rise of the extreme right around the globe, and the most plausible explanation I can think of is capitalism and its waning influence. I believe the old world has perished and the new one is taking shape, and we all must determine what that new world should look like. I truly believe we can reshape our way of life. We will have to do so for our collective survival.” ‘Let All That We Imagine Be The Light’ is currently available through STUNVOLUME.