American rock band Garbage have returned with a new single that hits like a slow-burn gut punch.
Titled ‘There’s No Future In Optimism’, it’s the first taste of their upcoming album Let All That We Imagine Be The Light, due out May 30 via BMG.
The track comes with a brooding, cinematic video directed by Benjy Kirkman. Shot in widescreen noir, it mirrors the song’s tension. It all feels distinctly bleak yet strangely beautiful. If anything it shows that Garbage have not softened with age. If anything, they actually sound like they’re thriving in the chaos.
Shirley Manson also leans hard into contradiction during the track. She’s said that the title came from the band, and she loved it instantly but her lyrics flip the title it on its head. It’s not about surrender, it’s actually about resilience. “If we allow our fatalism or our negativity to really take over, we will crumble,” she added.
The track paints a picture of unrest. Specifically describing Manson’s experience of Los Angeles during the fallout of George Floyd’s murder. “It was really precarious, chaotic and terrifying,” she said of the incident. Helicopters buzzed over her Hollywood home for days. To Manson, the world outside felt terrifying and furious. That same frenetic energy seems to have seeped into the song’s pulse.
Sonically, the track is classic Garbage. But now it feels layered with a sharp edge. It’s dark and emotionally loaded without ever leaning into melodrama. It simmers more than it explodes, and that restraint makes it hit harder.
‘There’s No Future In Optimism’ feels less like a slogan and more like a warning shot. It doesn’t wallow in the bleakness. It recognises it, names it, and moves through it. That’s where the hope lives. Not in blind positivity, but in facing the fire and staying on your feet.
With Let All That We Imagine Be The Light just around the corner, this single sets the tone. It’s direct, reflective, and unafraid to walk straight into the dark.
