U2 dropped a surprise EP this week with six new songs and a message that doesn’t leave much room for misinterpretation.
Titled Days of Ash, the EP opens with “American Obituary,” a fiery tribute to Renée Good, the Minneapolis mother of three who was killed Jan. 7 amid protests tied to the federal immigration crackdown.
The band framed the project as an urgent response to the current moment. Bono said a full-length album with a more “joyful tone” is still in the works, but these songs weren’t meant to sit on a hard drive while the world dealt with “chaos.”
“These EP tracks couldn’t wait,” Bono said, calling them “songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation.”
Bono described the EP as a snapshot of what the band can offer right now.
“We all bring what we’ve got. And these five songs and a poem are what we’ve got right now,” he said, adding that the tracks are “portraits” of people U2 sees “at some of the frontlines of freedom.”
“For those us not living on those lines, we should be so grateful to those who are,” he said.
The EP also reaches beyond the U.S., with songs that reference ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Iran and Ukraine, including “Wildpeace,” a poem from Israeli writer Yehuda Amichai set to music. The track “Yours Eternally” features guest performances by Ed Sheeran and Ukrainian rocker Taras Topolia, who has been fighting on the front lines against Russian forces. U2 said that track will be accompanied by a short documentary set for release Tuesday to mark the four-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“One can never write a song to do justice to lives like these,” he said, “but you can try.”
Even with the EP’s grief-heavy tone, he insisted this isn’t the band’s final word.
“Hang tight,” Bono said. “You can only kick at the darkness for so long. We’re going to try to make the light brighter real soon.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source relevantmagazine.com ’
