U2<\/strong><\/a> has returned to make a strong musical statement. On Ash Wednesday (Feb. 18), the rockers released their new EP, Days Of Ash<\/em>. The six-track project, inspired by current political events, includes five new songs and a reading of \u201cWildpeace\u201d\u2014a poem by Israeli author and poet Yehuda Amichai\u2014by Nigerian artist Adeola of Les Amazones d\u2019Afrique and Jacknife Lee.<\/p>\n Ed Sheeran and Taras Topolia, the Ukrainian singer-turned-soldier whom U2 performed with in a Kyiv bomb shelter in 2022, appear on \u201cYours Eternally.\u201d The tune will be accompanied by a mini-documentary directed by Ukrainian cinematographer and filmmaker Ilya Mikhaylus, which will be released on February 24\u2014the fourth anniversary of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine. The film showcases the daily lives of soldiers fighting on the frontlines of the war.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a thrill having the four of us back together in the studio over the last year. The songs on Days of Ash<\/em> are very different in mood and theme to the ones we\u2019re going to put on our album later in the year,\u201d Bono said in a statement. \u201cThese EP tracks couldn\u2019t wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world. They are songs of defiance and dismay, of lamentation. Songs of celebration will follow, we\u2019re working on those now\u2026 because for all the awfulness we see normalized daily on our small screens, there\u2019s nothing normal about these mad and maddening times, and we need to stand up to them before we can go back to having faith in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n Along with the release of Days of Ash<\/em>, U2 also resurrected their Propaganda<\/em> magazine in limited-edition print and digital forms. Titled U2 \u2013 Days Of Ash: Six Postcards From The Present\u2026 Wish We Weren\u2019t Here<\/em>, the 52-page publication includes song lyrics, notes from the band members, a Q&A with Bono, and interviews with the Yours Eternally<\/em> director Ilya Mikhaylus, film producer Pyotr Verzilov, and Taras Topolia.\n<\/p>\n Propaganda<\/em>, born out of the punk-era D.I.Y. zine culture, was first launched in 1986 through the letterboxes of U2 fans worldwide.\n<\/p>\n U2\u2019s as-yet-untitled new album will follow 2023\u2019s Songs of Surrender<\/em> and is slated for a late 2026 release. Last October, the band received the Woody Guthrie Prize<\/strong><\/a>, which honors those who embody the belief that music can be a force for social justice and change. Bono and The Edge accepted the prize on behalf of the band at a ceremony hosted by the Woody Guthrie Center and held at Cain\u2019s Ballroom in Tulsa, Oklahoma.\n<\/p>\n