Garbage - Strange Little Birds [Review]

If Garbage has ever been good at anything, it's at making fantastic, catchy rock music, and the band's latest effort, Strange Little Birds, is no exception. The album's art definitely demonstrates a cat theme, so the title is a bit odd, but it comes from lyrics from the song "Even Though Our Love Is Doomed": "Such strange little birds devoured by our obsessions." Although I don't think that I like Strange Little Birds quite as much as I like the last album, Not Your Kind of People, I do definitely really love it, and it's one of my favorite Garbage albums to date. The album opens with "Sometimes," which really feels like an intro at less than three minutes long. The song, to me, speaks of wanting to be in control because you've reached a point at which you feel confused and maybe even helpless. That control could even come in the form of learning from being abused. The song features a soft and slow intro featuring piano and strings but picks up a little bit with a pulsating beat. Even after the beat comes in, though, most of the song is fueled by the piano and strings, making it one of the softest songs on the album. The song abruptly ends and moves into the heavy anthem "Empty," the album's lead single. "Empty" is, as I said, pretty heavy and sounds like an alternative rock song from the '90s. I love singing along to this catchy chorus and really relate to the song, as it speaks of never feeling good enough and finding validation from someone else, consequently becoming obsessed with them. "I'm so empty," the chorus declares. "You're all I think about." It's a great anthemic song and is a real highlight on the album.

As opposed to "Sometimes" being rather short at under three minutes long, the third track on Strange Little Birds is well over six minutes long. "Blackout" is, in fact, apparently the longest Garbage song yet, as in spanning across the course of their career. The song is a midtempo rock song that has an '80s vibe to it, both with its instrumental production and its vocal production. There are also wordless vocals in the chorus that remind me a lot of The Cranberries, another female-fronted rock band that rose at around the same time that Garbage did. I lyrically liken the song to "Let It Go" from the Disney film Frozen, especially regarding its chorus: "Try not to think. Be cool. Be calm. Be fake. Dumb yourself down. Numb yourself out. Fake it 'til you make it break." A Frozen fan may be reminded of the line "Conceal; don't feel" from "Let It Go," the film's most popular song. The fourth track on the album is another highlight for me. Titled "If I Lost You," the song is a downtempo, trip-hop song that reminds me of a combination of Depeche Mode, Dido, and Goldfrapp. The song speaks of being so in love with someone that you can't imagine your life without them: "Sometimes, I believe that I might die if I lost you." I know from experience that this is a very dangerous feeling, but it is also a very human feeling that many of us experience throughout our lives. One thing that I really love about "If I Lost You" is that it takes me right back to the '90s.

"Night Drive Loneliness" is not only a highlight on the album for me but is even my top favorite song on the album. Although considerably more reserved, it reminds me a bit of the opening track from Not Your Kind of People, "Automatic Systematic Habit," in that it has an industrial, Marilyn Manson-esque sound to it. I love this song not only because of its industrial sound but also because of its lyrics. I unfortunately don't yet have a car (it's well beyond my budget), but one reason why I am really looking forward to having one is because I imagine taking drives to be therapeutic for my occasional depression and anxiety, and this would be a perfect sounding song to have jamming during the experience. "My night drive loneliness comes again and again," Shirley Manson confesses. I love this song so very much and hope that we will be treated to a music video for it. I think that the sixth song, "Even Though Our Love Is Doomed," was the second song for the band to release from the album, although it is not technically a single. The song is a midtempo alternative rock song that is fueled primarily by plucked strings and carried through by Manson's low, breathy voice. The song doesn't really get louder until close to the end when it finally gets heavier. The song speaks of wanting to fight for someone even though they're very likely not meant to be together. "I need to understand why we kill the things we love the most," Manson laments.

"Magnetized" picks up the energy that dwindled down after "Blackout." After an electronic, atmospheric opening, Manson asserts, "I'm not in love," although by the end of the song, I definitely get the impression that she is trying to convince herself of that more than anything else. The chorus doesn't really go anywhere lyrically, as it keeps repeating "I'm magnetized," but there is a lot of weight in the verses: "You bring your light; I'll bring the pain. You bring your joy; I'll bring my shame." I believe Shirley to be saying that her attraction to this person is intense and that she probably does love the person but can't admit that because she is broken and would be opening herself up to the previous song's doomed love. The energy stays at approximately the same level with "We Never Tell," the album's eighth track. The song is an uptempo electro-rock song about being inseparable from someone and wanting to set an example of love for the rest of the world: "Let's give 'em something to remember, something to talk about on their telephones, on their couch at home." "So We Can Stay Alive" is another electro-rock song but has a really strong, pulsating drive to it that punctuates the heavy, persistent guitar riffs that energize most of the song. As an English professor, I certainly appreciate the song's use of alliteration, such as the whispered "victor, vanquish, valour" and "lust and love, our lives..." Shirley has said that the song is about using our impending mortality as fuel to live the best lives that we possibly can. Although not as long as "Blackout," the song is rather lengthy at about exactly six minutes long.

"Teaching Little Fingers to Play" is probably my second favorite song from Strange Little Birds following "Night Drive Loneliness." The beginning of the song sonically reminds me a lot of Madonna's cover of "I Want You," and like "If I Lost You," it sounds very trip-hop-esque. The song sounds like it might be making use of a keyboard. What I love the most about the song is its beautiful chorus; Manson's lilting notes independently assert that "I'm all grown up... no one around to fix me now... Doing it my own way..." The final song on the standard edition of the album is "Amends," an epic industrial rock song at six minutes long. The song, to me, speaks of wanting closure from a person who has deeply hurt you. The most poignant lyrics for me are "It's what you do; don't make it right. Matter of fact, it's called revenge. Cut off your nose to spite your face. It's pretty cruel shutting me out." Present on "Amends" is definitely a woman scorned who wants answers. "...I know it's not my place," she says, "to tell you how to live your life, but to forget somebody's sins is divine..." This is sheer lyrical power and is a great closing track, especially with its epic instrumental break more than halfway through. Although the standard version ends there, the vinyl features an additional song, titled "FWY," an abbreviation of "Fucking with You." It's a shame that it's only available on the vinyl because I don't have a record player and don't plan on buying one anytime soon because vinyls are very expensive, but I did have the pleasure of hearing the song thanks to a YouTube uploader.

"FWY" also makes a great closing track. It starts on a low orchestral note, sounding very much like it might work as a James Bond theme (which, of course, Garbage has done before with "The World Is Not Enough"). "FWY" is a very slow track, with a very downtempo beat. It's definitely the slowest song on the album, although it does get louder and heavier a little more than halfway through. This is, in some ways, a continuation of "Amends," as it is addressing a man who has cheated on her. "FWY" is much more sad and tragic, though, as Manson places some of the blame on herself: "I want you to know I will always love you. I need you to know I forgive you. I want you to know that I was also to blame. I was never easy to live with back then." Cheating is never, ever okay, and I don't think that someone who has been a victim of it should have to apologize for it. The song is extremely explicit, as the titular lyric is talking about literal fucking, as in having sex. "You said there was no one quite like me," Shirley points out. "Coming inside me felt like coming home." This is another song to which I relate on a visceral level, and I really love the song and its trip-hop sound. I so wish that it were on the CD. In conclusion, however, I love Strange Little Birds. It effectively captures the dark side of falling in and being in love, and I love its trip-hop influence and its electro-rock sounds. It's definitely one of the best Garbage albums to date, as many Garbage fans have been seeming to agree.