How Garbage Wrote a New Album Without Speaking to Each Other: ‘It Seems to Work’ (Exclusive)

Garbage is the rare rock band that’s managed to maintain its original lineup for all 30-plus years of its existence, but according to frontwoman Shirley Manson, there’s a very specific reason for that.

“We keep things fresh and have a healthy marriage because we don’t speak to each other,” Manson, 58, exclusively told Us Weekly with a laugh. “The levels of dysfunction are quite astounding at this point. But it seems to work, so why break it?”

For their eighth album, Let All That We Imagine Be the Light, Manson, 58, worked alone on lyrics to go with music sent to her by her bandmates, Butch Vig, Steve Marker and Duke Erikson.

“When I was younger, I tried really hard to facilitate communication between band members, and then I just became exhausted by it,” she explained. “I know it sounds really freaky, but as I said, it seems to work. And the fact that we have never gone out of our way to hurt each other, we’ve not ever said anything cruel or disrespectful and we’ve always tried to be kind to one another — I think that’s maybe one of the reasons why it has lasted as long as it has. We’re not in each other’s lives at all. We’re not in each other’s pockets. It’s a very peculiar dynamic.”

Despite the unusual working arrangement, the new album is a fresh take on the group’s classic sound — raucous guitars with a pop melody — that Manson is super proud of. One person told her that the new songs sound like they could have come from a debut album, which she took as the highest compliment.

“It felt like a surprise gift every time they sent me a piece of music. I had no idea what was coming, and I was really taken aback by how cinematic the music sounded to me,” she said. “I was expecting something entirely different, and as a result of these sort of cinematic pieces that they sent me, I was inspired in a different way. And after 30 years of being together, to have a different way of writing and creating was wonderful. I think that’s one of the reasons why the record sounds so fresh.”

She’s as surprised as anyone that Garbage is still going so strong, especially in an era when artists come and go as fast as you can hit skip on the streaming platform of your choice. The band will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their self-titled debut album later this year, but they’re no legacy act — the focus of their new tour will be Let All That We Imagine Be the Light.

“My biggest fear is that we sound stale, because I think that’s a death,” Manson told Us. “If you’re writing the same thing 30 years on as you did when you were in your late twenties, that’s the death of the artist. The whole point, the privilege, of being an artist is you get to explore constantly with no repercussions. You get to explore and push at the boundaries of your talent and hopefully grow as an artist, as a talent. … So that’s glorious. I’m 58 — what a glorious gift that is to know that you’re growing as a musician, learning, and that’s all you can hope for.”

Manson has become more aware of her own mortality in recent years, and that influenced a lot of her lyric writing for the new LP. She’s had two major surgeries, including a hip replacement, since Garbage’s last album came out in 2021.

“I had to learn how to walk again,” Manson said. “I lost my dog. Several friends of mine have had extreme health crises. I’ve lost people that I’ve loved so much. … These are all things that play into the way that I think about my life now, and I don’t look too far ahead. I think about the immediate, immediate future. Like, what’s in my hand today? What do I have to enjoy right now and be grateful for? That’s how I approach every tour now.”

For example, she and the band recently finished up a stint in Mexico, a place Manson has been many times, but she wouldn’t let herself slip into thinking that it was the same old routine.

“I’m thinking, ‘Will I be lucky enough to get back to Mexico?’ Probably, but I’m not taking it for granted,” she explained. “So I’m gonna enjoy every single second of drinking tequila in Tequila in Mexico, or enjoying tacos in Guadalajara and meeting friends and playing for one of the most incredible audiences in the world. That’s just how I apply my thinking now. I think it’s healthier that way, and it actually infuses my life with joy, not sadness. It forces me to really, really appreciate where I’m at in the now.”

Let All That We Imagine Be the Light is out now.