It has been three and half years since Garbage released an album, but it seems a lot longer. During that period the band, the Scottish lead singer Shirley Manson and the three self-proclaimed studio boffins Butch Vig (producer of Nirvana’s Nevermind), Duke Erikson and Steve Marker, have suffered a tumultuous time — they have imploded at least once and Manson has split with her husband.

Unfortunately, Bleed Like Me sounds as though much of the band’s energies have been exhausted dealing with their travails. Garbage’s 1995 self-titled first album was a thrilling electro rock journey that fizzed with melody and attitude and produced a slew of hits, including Only Happy When it Rains, Vow and Stupid Girl. Although their two subsequent records — Version 2.0 (1998) and Beautiful Garbage (2001) — didn’t match their debut’s majesty, they remain examples of finely crafted electronic pop.

Bleed Like Me ends this notable run. Bar a couple of outstanding tracks, the band seem to have lost their way with a tune. Even after six or seven listens many of the songs from the album’s second half drift past without leaving much of an impression, other than that Manson’s lyrics — never her strong suit anyway — have become lazy and clichéd. Sex is Not the Enemy, for example, a riff in forlorn pursuit of a song, could have been copied straight from the pages of Company magazine, while Right Between the Eyes features the unforgivable line: “Life is a bitch and then you die.” This does at least serve as a pithy summary of the band’s mindset. When Manson attempts to add colour to this rather monochrome worldview, as on the title track, the results are rather awkward and self-conscious.

Nevertheless, there are two classic Garbage songs here. The first single, Why Do You Love Me?, is a headlong pop surge eerily reminiscent of Pat Benatar, while Run Baby Run is so exhilaratingly perfect that much of the formless mulch that follows could almost be forgiven. Almost, but not quite.

Paul Connolly

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