“Fix Me Now” admits that where there is shadow, there is light.
The disturbing “As Heaven Is Wide” concludes that the only relief from a troubled conscience is total separation from God. The singer plots vindictive revenge against a lover on “Vow” (“I’ve come to cut you up . . . and break your soul apart”). Similarly, she acts out relational frustration by burning down that person’s house on “Not My Idea.” Advice given on the appropriately titled “Stupid Girl” includes denouncing faith and love. A crude sexual proposition (“Supervixen”) seems to offer the only comfort from life’s darkness, misery and pain-which is exalted on “Only Happy When It Rains” (“I feel good when things are going wrong . . . I’m riding high on deep depression”). Hopelessness abounds.
Artists today have turned moping into an art form. Lead singer Shirley Manson says her band’s members share “a certain melancholy and an interest in the perverse.” It shows. Usually, trash takes a few days to stink up the house, but don’t wait that long to put Garbage out at the curb. Teens intrigued by Manson’s vocal style should pick up a copy of God by Rebecca St. James instead.
