Music

Entering her fourth decade as one of her generation’s fieriest rock vocalists, the GARBAGE singer is as brutally honest as ever.

Photo by Joseph Cultice

Words by Owen Myers

“I came around to tear your little world apart,” snarled Shirley Manson on “Vow,” the sledgehammering 1995 debut from Garbage. In the nineties, the four-piece, helmed by the Edinburgh-born Manson as well as her U.S. cohorts Bitch Vig, Duke Erikson, and Steve Marker, were a bolt from the blue in a sea of laddy Britpop and post-grunge greige. The songs were industrial-pop confections, turbo-charged by Manson’s roaring vocals; today, the hits like “When I Grow Up” and “I Think I’m Paranoid” sound as urgent as ever. Thirty years later, and after a few bumps in the road, the band are fresh off releasing their eighth album Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, where pummeling hooks tangle with Manson’s lyrics of finding some hope — and frequently, humor — in a world where that can feel impossible. This June, Manson spoke with me about Garbage’s waxing and waning critical fortunes, channeling ‘90s rave with her arresting style, and who should be the next James Bond.

OM: Congratulations on Let All That We Imagine Be the Light. How does it feel to have it out in the world?

SM: It’s always a joy to release a record. It’s always an immense privilege. It feels heavier and heavier — and more joyful — the more that we notch albums on our belt. The fact that this is our eighth record feels surreal. I wish I was a cooler person and could pretend to be unmoved by the process, but it’s still exciting to me to make music and then get to release it. We’re delighted and quite taken aback, actually, by how it’s been received.