The worst thing Garbage ever did was try to grow up on us. On their eponymous 1995 debut, the producer-led supergroup steamrolled the charts with a thrillingly hokey mash-up of emo posturing and post-grunge arena rock. It was only when they tinkered with that formula that the wheels came off.
Twenty-one years later, it seems the quartet, fronted as ever by the effervescently glum Shirley Manson, and with alt.rock father-figure Butch Vig on drums, have taken the lesson to heart. With their sixth album, their second since reforming in 2012, the band return majestically to their plastic-goth roots.
Amid the creaking tempos and shuddering guitars, Manson howls like a banshee trying out for X Factor. That’s exactly what the music demands, as Garbage gallop through the crashing misery-punk of ‘Magnetised’ and ‘We Can Never Tell’ and kick the door down with ‘Empty’.
Strange Little Birds is as retro as a Ramones t-shirt, but the writing is so strong it hardly matters. Here’s a release that takes flight from the start and soars higher with every passing moment.
_Out Now

Rating: 8/10
Key track: 'Empty'