Garbage have released “There’s No Future in Optimism,” the first single from the band’s recent announced new album Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, which is out May 30. The track features vocalist Shirley Manson kicking things off with the lyric “If you’re ready for love,” before crunchy guitars and propulsive drums enter the fold.
“I love the title,” Manson shared. “The band sent it 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. After the George Floyd murder, which is one of few things in my life that I wish I’d never seen: I was changed entirely by seeing the footage of that cop kneeling on George Floyd’s neck. In Los Angeles there were huge protests and a lot of upheaval after that. Above our house in Hollywood, there were helicopters all day long, for days on end. It was precarious, chaotic and terrifying.”
“There’s No Future in Optimism” arrives alongside a music video shot and directed by Benjy Kirkman. Check that out below, and pre-order Let All That We Imagine Be the Light here.
