The title of Garbage‘s new single, “There’s No Future in Optimism,” suggests yet another slog through pessimism, and the opening scenes of the music video don’t help any by showing newspaper headlines like “Martial Law Declared” and “Government Passes ‘Creative Compliance Act.’” The clip for the song, which will feature on the band’s upcoming Let All That We Imagine Be the Light album (out May 30), is black-and-white, too, suggesting more bleak music for bleak times. But then Shirley Manson’s voice glimmers through the gray, echoing: “If you’re ready for love … ” Surely, we are.
Far from enervating, the song is an energetic call for love and compassion during dark times. “There is no future that can’t be designed,” she sings in the second verse, “with some imagination and a beautiful mind.” The chorus simply goes, “Future, future, love, love future,” over sputtery drums and urgent synths. Moreover, the clip, by director Benjy Kirkman, shows two women truly making the most of a bad situation, and falling in love in the process.
“I love the title [‘There’s No Future In Optimism’],” Manson said in a statement. “The band sent it [to] me and I was like, ‘This is great. I’m keeping that.’ But the lyrics are an action against that title. Because if we allow our fatalism or our negativity to really take over, we will crumble. It’s about a city, in my case, Los Angeles, but it could be anywhere where bad stuff is happening.”
She added that the lyrics reflect how she’s still struggling with seeing footage of George Floyd’s murder. “In Los Angeles, there were huge protests and a lot of upheaval after that,” she said. “Above our house in Hollywood, there were helicopters all day long, for days on end. It was precarious, chaotic and terrifying.”
Garbage will be supporting the album on what they’ve dubbed the Happy Endings tour. After a few festival dates, including Cruel World next month, this summer, the tour kicks off in earnest in September with North American dates running through November.
“This record is about what it means to be alive, and about what it means to face your imminent destruction,” Manson said. “It’s hopeful. It’s very tender towards what it means to be a human being. Our flaws and our failures are still beautiful, even though we’re taught that they’re not. This is a tender, thrilling record about the fragility of life.”
Let All That We Imagine Be the Light track list:
1. “There’s No Future in Optimism”
2. “Chinese Fire Horse”
3. “Hold”
4. “Have We Met (The Void)”
5. “Sisyphus”
6. “Radical”
7. “Love to Give”
8. “Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty”
9. “R U Happy Now”
10. “The Day That I Met God”
