Garbage is back to prove once again that sometimes garbage is not just a fetid chore but also a fun, angsty 90s (and 00s, and 10s) rock band led by someone who made the name “Shirley” cool. They’re set to release Strange Little Birds, their first album since 2012’s Not Your Kind of People on June 10. And today, they shared the first single from the album, “Empty.”
Despite their band name that might make them sound scrappy, Garbage’s past albums have tended to have an air of electronic polish that’s run through their songs, and a press release describes this new album — which was recorded in producer/Garbage drummer Butch Vig’s basement — as the least “fussed over,” with Shirley Manson saying, “The guiding principle was keeping it fresh, and relying on instinct both lyrically and musically.”
The song is reminiscent of Garbage’s old work, though with a more deliberate air of “rawness,” catapulting Manson’s voice through various filters and drawing back most of the instrumentation midway through before clamoring through the track’s final chorus.
Listen:
[Via Consequence of Sound]