Its first full album in seven years, Garbge’s Not Your Kind of People is a glorious reunion for band members Shirley Manson, Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker, as well as a long-awaited soundtrack centered around both nostalgia and the future.
After problems with their former studio, the band split in 2005 and recently announced they had reunited to start recording a new album under their own artistic direction.
Garbage, born and bred as 1990s musicians, offered a glimpse into the future with their album Version 2.0 and a much needed dose of grunge and punk rock in Bleed Like Me. Scottish beauty Manson’s full and haunting voice matched with the musical production of Vig and other band members made for a quartet of perfection.
Not Your Kind of People fuses the best of the past with the brightest of the future. Exploring new electronic and synth beats with their traditional grunge and rock, Garbage returns with a vengeance and a big “eff– you” to the label that constricted their creativity.
Each song feels reminiscent of a past Garbage jam, but the tracks elude redundancy as familiarity is equally matched with a fresh twist that surprises the listener. “Sugar” and “Felt” give a musical shout-out to slow jams like “#1 Crush” and “Bleed Like Me,” while “Man on a Wire” and “Battle in Me” thrash out to some gratifying rock that is similar to an amplified “Why Do You Love Me” or “Sex Is Not The Enemy.”
The opening track, “Automatic Systematic Habit,” sets the tone for the album, a dirty, synth-heavy jam with a proper dosage of shredded guitar and electronic beats. The electronica vibe, a newer take on the one in Version 2.0 and Beautiful Garbage, is used to the maximum, integrated into songs throughout, such as “I Hate Love.”
One of the best tracks on the record, the soft and subdued “Beloved Freaks,” lets Garbage sing a love-song to their fans, opening up their sentimental side. A “Born This Way” carries much more fervor and emotion than the dance jam put out by Lady Gaga, Garbage’s Shirley Manson croons, “Nothing good was ever free/No one gets it, no one sees/So here you stand, beloved freak/You’re not alone”.
Already touring for the album as well as releasing new merchandise everyday and supplemental videos for each song, explaining the intent with black-and-white film noir-esque footage, the group has jumpstarted their long-awaited comeback. The years of sounds and melodies created by Garbage come together in Not Your Kind of People, producing a new fusion of the much-loved past and “Big Bright World” of the future.
