Music Review: The rock band Garbage are defiant on new album, 'Let All That We Imagine Be the Light'
Buzz-saw guitars, dense synthesizers and throbbing percussion can sometimes brighten the mood.
That's the goal of the new album from the American rock band Garbage, 'Let All That We Imagine Be the Light.' Due for release Friday, it's the sound of frontwoman Shirley Manson pushed to the brink by health issues and the fury of our times.
The band's familiar sonic mix provides a pathway out of the darkness, with heavy riffing and dramatic atmospherics accompanying Manson's alluring alto.
'This is a cold cruel world,' she sings on the crunchy 'Love to Give.' 'You've gotta find the love where you can get it.'
The album is Garbage's eighth and the first since 2021's 'No Gods No Masters.' The genesis came last August, when Manson aggravated an old hip injury, abruptly ending the band's world tour.
The other members of the group – Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker – retreated to the studio and began work on new music. Manson added lyrics that lament fatalism, ageism and sexism, acknowledge vulnerability and mortality, and seek to embrace joy, love and empowerment.
That's a lot, which may be why there's a song titled 'Sisyphus.' The sonics are formidable, too. A mix that echoes the Shangri-Las,Patti Smith and Evanescence helps to leaven the occasional overripe lyric, such as, 'There is no future that can't be designed/With imagination and a beautiful mind," in the title track.
Most of the material is less New Age-y, and there's a fascinating desperation in Manson's positivity. 'Chinese Fire Horse,' for example, becomes a punky, Gen X, age-defying fist-pumper.
'But I've still got the power in my brain and my body/I'll take no (expletive) from you,' she sings.
Manson sounds just as defiant singing about a love triangle on 'Have We Met (The Void),' or mourning in America on 'There's No Future in Optimism.' The album peaks on the backside with the back-to-back cuts 'Get Out My Face AKA Bad Kitty,' a battle cry in the gender war, and 'R U Happy Now,' a ferocious post-election rant.
Then comes the closer, 'The Day That I Met God,' a weird and whimsical benedictory mix of horns, strings, faith, pain management and more. Hope and uplift can sound good loud.
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For more AP reviews of recent music releases, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/music-reviews
Steven Wine, The Associated Press
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'They just assumed I was doing this to myself.' Lofton said that, unfortunately, this is not an unusual response from practitioners who are not accustomed to treating lipedema. 'Many patients with lipedema are advised that they need to treat obesity as a condition, when in fact weight loss does not treat lipedema, as it is an abnormal fat accumulation,' Lofton said. 'It doesn't respond to diet and exercise but instead to other treatments which focus on activating the lymphatic system.' Ashley's health began to decline, and she said that, especially as a single mother, she felt a great deal of responsibility to both herself and her daughter to correct that progression. She knew she had to get an official diagnosis in order to start treatment, and after a great deal of continued research, she met with Amron in 2021. Naming the Enemy Unfortunately, by the time Ashley was able to get treatment with Amron, her lipedema had progressed to the point that her diagnosis was lipo-lymphedema. This condition arises when lipedema progresses to a point where it starts to impair the lymphatic system, leading to secondary lymphedema. Tissue can progress to the point that it becomes hard and inflamed, and Amron says that at worst, it becomes inoperable. 'Lipo-lymphedema occurs because of the chronic inflammation leading to the fibrosis and scar tissue that can begin to scar down the lymphatics and permanently damage the lymphatic capillaries and lymphatic circulation,' Amron explained. 'I find a pattern of a dense fibrosis is more prone to lipo-lymphedema. Generally, patterns of a loose fibrosis don't progress to lipo-lymphedema. So, it's something that we don't completely understand, but certain patients are more prone to this type of development.' Over the course of 2022, Amron performed three lipedema removal surgeries on Ashley, all successful. Ashley, a writer who has been very open on Medium and elsewhere about her battle with lipo-lymphedema, encountered considerable swelling after her surgeries, which Amron said is due to the specific type of scarring that she had developed. 'I define four patterns of fibrosis that I see: Nodular, dense, granular, and more of a spider-like network. Shannon had primarily more of a spider-like, loose network,' Amron said. 'Those patients are more prone to swelling and moving a lot of fluid across membranes because they have a lot of loose connective tissues. In a patient like Shannon, I'll go in and remove 40 liters and make great improvements, and they'll still have consistent swelling.' Amron's practice includes a diagnostic and preventive center where his associate Karen Herbst, MD, provides treatments for patients who experience these symptoms, including dealing with mast cell activation syndrome, evaluation of inflammatory markers, genetic testing, and other modalities. Ashley had an additional battle to face: In July of 2022, decades of carrying the weight of what was now lipo-lymphedema caused her knees to erupt with severe pain. After battling for months just to get an MRI because of her still-high weight, she learned that a torn medial meniscus and several related knee injuries and conditions were causing her pain. This was a real setback for Ashley in terms of her ability to get around and care for herself and her daughter, particularly depressing after all she had been through to get the severely needed surgeries. Lofton said that it's important that patients in situations such as Ashley's are treated with a holistic approach in order to achieve the best results. 'It's important to recognize that lipedema can lead to joint issues due to altered biomechanics and increased weight bearing. It is important that we as providers avoid biases based simply on BMI, or body mass index because this can be falsely elevated in patients with lipedema,' she said. 'Once a patient is diagnosed with lipedema, they can work with vascular surgeons, physical therapists, and other specialists to develop comprehensive treatment plans.' Treatments and Outcomes Ashley's knees have continued to be a battle, as no orthopedists have been willing to take her on due to her BMI, even at Amron's urging. However, in the spring of 2024, she signed on with a new nurse practitioner who 'actually had a basic understanding of lipedema.' Then, after several months of physical therapy and trying a few rounds of medication for her knee pain, Ashley was able to get access to compounded tirzepatide injections, though still at a very high out-of-pocket cost. The results weren't instantaneous, but Ashley noticed rapid progress. 'After several weeks on the shots, but before I lost any real weight, my knees began to feel much less painful, and I quit getting such bad joint flares. I also quit swelling up so much in my calves,' she said. 'As of now, I've lost nearly 80 pounds, and my knee pain rarely bothers me. My range of motion in my knees is still poor, and I am still regaining my strength with physical therapy, but I am finally seeing some real progress.' The dramatic effects of tirzepatide on patients with lipedema came as a surprise to Amron, who originally thought it would just be a complementary tool in the arsenal available to his patients. 'Initially, I assumed that it would be another weight loss strategy — it's almost like simply dieting, so you're taking in less food, so of course you're going to lose weight, but you're going to lose weight in the areas you don't have lipedema, and the areas you have lipedema aren't going to respond,' Amron said. 'We subsequently see that these medications can help with inflammation quite a bit.' Ashley is still fighting her battle against lipo-lymphedema, including against the limitations placed on coverage of the disease by the insurance industry. 'I'm stuck with limits like only 20 total covered therapy sessions per year — that includes lymphedema therapy and physical therapy together, not each. They won't cover my tirzepatide injections despite my positive results,' Ashley said. The issues at the heart of getting insurance companies to cover lipedema and expanding provider understanding of the disease are the same: Awareness and understanding. That's why Ashley has made her case public, and that's why she continues the fight.
