Alt-Rock icons Garbage have revealed details surrounding their highly anticipated eighth studio album, Let All That We Imagine Be The Light, with a release date scheduled for May 30.
Listen to Alterna 90s, Alterna 00s, Women Of Alt, and more on the free Audacy app
Recorded at Red Razor Sounds in Los Angeles, drummer and co-producer Butch Vig’s studio Grunge Is Dead, and frontwoman Shirley Manson’s bedroom, Let All That We Imagine Be The Light is the follow-up to the Garbage's critically acclaimed 2021 album No Gods No Masters. According to Manson, the new offering was “forged out of the need to find an uplifting thread amidst the swell of chaos and extraordinary upheaval in the world.”
“Our last album was extremely forthright. Born out of frustration and outrage – it had a kind of scorched earth, pissed off quality to it. With this new record however, I felt a compulsion to reach for a different kind of energy. A more constructive one,” says Manson. She adds, “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, its 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.”
“Going into making this record, I was determined to find a more hopeful, uplifting world to immerse myself in,” Shirley continues. “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.”
Butch Vig adds, “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.”
Speaking about the album’s opening track, “There’s No Future In Optimism,” Shirley says, “I really wanted that song 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."
Ending her pre-release tease, the album's final track “The Day That I Met God,” Shirley explains, “is the opus on the record and explores the grand theme of great love, something I haven’t written about very much before now. The idea came to me when I was recovering from major surgery and I felt so raw, vulnerable and scared. I was on the treadmill for the first time following an operation when I suddenly felt this powerful sensation of healing love around me - it was a moment that uplifted me. It took me out from what had felt like hell. The vocal you hear is the writing demo, the first take. Just me sitting on the edge of my bed, in recovery, singing into a handheld microphone. I was feeling so vulnerable and I think that’s what lends the song added poignancy. It’s really a song about mortality but it’s also an expression of gratitude. Gratitude for getting older, gratitude for the longevity of our band, for good health, for the great mystery and for the ongoing, creative adventure of life.”
Scroll below for the full tracklisting and album art. Pre-orders are available now.
Garbage - Let All That We Imagine Be The Light tracklist:
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