Shirley Manson says Garbage's new LP 'Strange Little Birds' is a return to their earlier "dark" sound.
Shirley Manson
While the 49-year-old frontwoman is shocked that after more than two decades as a group they've recorded "completely different" songs, the themes are much like those of their earlier records, such as their self-titled 1995 debut and 2005's 'Bleed Like Me'.
Asked if the new stuff is comparable to their previous offerings, she said: "Yes and no. I think the songs are so completely different and we have stumbled upon some new territory for us, which is pretty remarkable for being in a band for 21 years. Whenever you stumble upon a new world after so much time, it's amazing and unusual. But, I do think the record [resembles the] records that people identify us with, the sound of the first two records, in particular. I think the reason for that is that we made a very dark-sounding record. Our first records were similarly dark. Culturally, we've gotten further and further away from serious themes and darker strategies of trying to understand the world."
And Shirley admits that their last record 'Not Your Kind of People' wasn't dark enough and they longed to get back to writing about the "monsters and undertows" of the world.
She told Paper magazine:"We in Garbage ached for an exploration of the shadows, and that's what we did with this record. We didn't want to make any concessions to be an obsession with bright light and happiness - we feel like we're living in serious times and that requires an examination of the monsters and undertows."
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