It’s a significant part of the Garbage story. The commentary around Garbage’s treatment by labels or ageism inadvertently leveraged against her has followed the band through almost every step of their career. Opening up about adversity faced by musicians – especially female musicians – within the industry is something Shirley has done for years. And that is a very healthy reminder of my good fortune and my privilege.” We’ve got a terrible homeless situation here in LA, and I have people living in tents two steps away from my house. “I know a lot of struggling musicians who literally can barely feed themselves. “I’m concerned about all the young musicians who have not received any support from their government, and have been left to rot,” she says. But they’re fortunate, thinks Shirley, if only compared to America, where government furlough money didn’t help those whose jobs were in jeopardy or defunct. In the UK, those involved in the live music industry were encouraged by the Conservative government to retrain. As a musician she’s been focused on the injustice in the lack of support for artists on both sides of the Atlantic (“You're literally considered a nothing as a musician”). Speaking of the pandemic, Shirley is feeling grateful and thoughtful for her own circumstances.

These themes that have been relevant for decades – if not centuries, millennia – but listen to it and you can’t ignore the fact it speaks to the last couple of years. A reoccurring image of white men as undeserving and cruel gods looms large. It stands out from their other releases for covering racism and police brutality and wealth disparity. Tinged with a gothic darkness, it’s a dystopian, slow-paced and angular album, and one that feels timely for all its ’80s sonic influences. The capitalistic misogyny of the music industry and the world at large is just one of the weighty topics Garbage sink their teeth into on No Gods No Masters.

Room for Trouble by Shirley Verel