New U2 EP

Friday 3 April 2026 (Good Friday) – Interscope Records today announce the release of ‘U2 - Easter Lily’ EP, a new standalone 6-track EP from U2. Watch lyric videos HERE.

With recording sessions for a new studio album ongoing, ‘Easter Lily’ EP comes as a second, separate, self-contained collection of new music to be shared with fans ahead of the forthcoming album and follows last month’s ‘Days of Ash’ EP, released on Ash Wednesday.

While the ‘Days of Ash’ EP was a response to chaotic times in the outside world, the ‘Easter Lily’ EP is a much more reflective set of songs emerging from a more personal, private place that some may retreat to in such times – exploring themes of friendship, loss, hope, and ultimately, renewal.

‘Song for Hal’ is a COVID-19 lockdown lament, with The Edge on lead vocals, written for the band’s friend, the music-maker, Hal Willner, who would have turned 70 on Easter Monday and passed away almost 6 years ago to the day. ‘In a Life’ is a song celebrating friendship. ‘Scars’, is a song of encouragement and acceptance; scars and all, with a twist. ‘Resurrection Song’ is about pilgrimage, a road trip into the unknown with a lover or friend. ‘Easter Parade’ is a devotional song, a celebration of new life, rebirth and resurrection. 'COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?)’ is a lullaby for parents of children caught up in war, featuring a soundscape by Brian Eno.

In a note to U2’s audience, Bono said:
"We are in the studio, still working towards a noisy, messy, 'unreasonably colorful’ album to play LIVE… which is where U2 lives. We still look to vivid rock n roll as an act of resistance against all this awfulness on our small screens. These are for sure ‘wilderness years’ for so many of us looking at the mayhem out there in the world.

It’s a time that has our band digging deeper into our lives to find a wellspring of songs to try meet the moment… With Easter Lily we ended up asking very personal questions like: Are our own relationships up to these challenging times? How hard do you fight for friendship? Can our faith survive the mangling of meaning that those algorithms love to reward? Is all religion rubbish and still ripping us apart…? Or are there answers to find in its crevices? Are there ceremonies, rituals, dances that we might be missing in our lives? From the rite of Spring to Easter and its promise of rebirth and renewal… Patti Smith’s album Easter gave me so much hope when it was released in 1978. I wasn’t yet 18. The title is a nod to her.

We will attempt hoopla and fanfare at a later date to remind the rest of the world we exist but in the meantime… this is between you and us."

The ‘Easter Lily’ EP is accompanied by another special digital e-zine edition of ‘Propaganda’. Titled ‘U2 - Propaganda - Easter Lily’, this magazine features contributions from the four band members including sleeve notes from The Edge; Adam Clayton on art and the journey of recovery; a conversation between Bono and Franciscan friar Richard Rohr; and in-the-studio photographs shot by Larry Mullen Jr. The e-zine also features song lyrics; a piece on their producer, Jacknife Lee; a piece on Hal Willner by his friend Gavin Friday; and more. Forty years ago, in February 1986, the first issue of ‘Propaganda’ dropped through the letterboxes of U2 fans around the world. Aspiring to match other fan magazines at that time, ‘Propaganda’ was born out of the punk-era D.I.Y. zine culture that embraced attitude, ideas and dialogue. Read ‘U2 - Propaganda - Easter Lily’ HERE.

‘U2 - Easter Lily’ EP will be available as a digital download, as well as on all DSPs. Listen HERE. Watch lyric videos HERE.

The tracklisting for ‘U2 - Easter Lily’ EP is:

1. Song for Hal
2. In a Life
3. Scars
4. Resurrection Song
5. Easter Parade
6. COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?) - ft. a new soundscape by Brian Eno

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO8lTJpZAMc&list=PL80sr_OFD9CF_Oz9F3CWDTd68pJDTtTpP&index=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43N4LnDj9_M&list=PL80sr_OFD9CF_Oz9F3CWDTd68pJDTtTpP&index=2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1r-qvaRryo&list=PL80sr_OFD9CF_Oz9F3CWDTd68pJDTtTpP&index=3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0I3Y2s93VI&list=PL80sr_OFD9CF_Oz9F3CWDTd68pJDTtTpP&index=4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VTBM3AnkTU&list=PL80sr_OFD9CF_Oz9F3CWDTd68pJDTtTpP&index=5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWGapQFwy44&list=PL80sr_OFD9CF_Oz9F3CWDTd68pJDTtTpP&index=6

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U2 ANNOUNCE NEW STANDALONE 6-TRACK EP

‘U2 - DAYS OF ASH’

LISTEN HERE 

PLUS A SPECIAL ONE-OFF EDITION OF U2 MAGAZINE ‘PROPAGANDA’: 

‘U2 - DAYS OF ASH: SIX POSTCARDS FROM THE PRESENT… WISH WE WEREN’T HERE’  

WITH BAND INTERVIEWS + SONG LYRICS + MORE READ HERE

A SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM TO ACCOMPANY THE SONG ‘YOURS ETERNALLY’ (FT. ED SHEERAN & TARAS TOPOLIA) WILL BE RELEASED ON TUESDAY 24TH FEBRUARY, THE 4th ANNIVERSARY OF RUSSIA’S INVASION OF UKRAINE         

18 February 2026 – on this Ash Wednesday (the day after carnival) - Island Records today announces the release of ‘U2 - Days Of Ash’, a brand new standalone 6-track EP from U2. Out now, listen HERE. Watch lyric videos HERE.

In advance of a new album in late 2026, the ‘U2 - Days Of Ash’ EP is a self-contained collection of five new songs and a poem - ‘American Obituary’, ‘The Tears Of Things’, ‘Song Of The Future’, ‘Wildpeace’, ‘One Life At A Time’ and ‘Yours Eternally’ (ft. Ed Sheeran & Taras Topolia) - an immediate response to current events and inspired by the many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the frontlines of freedom. Four of the five tracks are about individuals – a mother, a father, a teenage girl – whose lives were brutally cut short. A soldier who’d rather be singing but is ready to die for the freedom of his country.

“It’s been a thrill having the four of us back together in the studio over the last year… the songs on Days of Ash are very different in mood and theme to the ones we’re going to put on our album later in the year.  These EP tracks couldn't 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’re working on those now… because for all the awfulness we see normalized daily on our small screens, there’s 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. And each other.
“If you have a chance to hope it’s a duty…” is a line we borrowed from Lea Ypi.
A laugh would be nice too. Thank you.”
Bono 

 “Who needs to hear a new record from us? It just depends on whether we’re making music we feel deserves to be heard. I believe these new songs stand up to our best work. We talk a lot about when to release new tracks. You don’t always know… the way the world is now feels like the right moment.  Going way back to our earliest days, working with Amnesty or Greenpeace, we’ve never shied away from taking a position and sometimes that can get a bit messy, there’s always some sort of blowback, but it’s a big side of who we are and why we still exist.”
Larry Mullen Jr.

“I’m excited about these new songs, it feels like they’re arriving at the right time.”
Adam Clayton

 “We believe in a world where borders are not erased by force.
Where culture, language, and memory are not silenced by fear.
Where the dignity of a people is not negotiable.
This belief isn’t temporary.
It isn’t political fashion.
It’s the ground we stand on.
And we stand there together.”
The Edge

‘American Obituary’ speaks to the shocking event the world witnessed in Minneapolis, Minnesota on January 7th, 2026 where Renée Nicole Macklin Good, an idealistic mother of three, was shot at almost point-blank range while exercising her right to peacefully protest, a right that is protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. This unarmed mother was then described as a “domestic terrorist” by a government who will not withdraw the description even though they know it’s not true. Or mount a proper enquiry into what happened for the sake of everyone involved.

‘The Tears Of Things’ borrows its title from a book by Franciscan friar Richard Rohr, which examines, through the writings of the Jewish prophets, how one can live compassionately in a time of violence and despair. The song imagines a conversation between Michelangelo’s David and his creator… where the young man with the sling and five smooth stones refuses the idea that he has to become Goliath to defeat him... he’s also revealed as having heart shaped pupils half a millennia before the heart shaped emoji, which puzzles visitors at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, Italy, to this day.

The star of the lyric, Sarina, in ‘Song of the Future’ honors the life of 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, one of thousands of Iranian schoolgirls who took to the streets as part of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in 2022.  These protests were sparked by the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish-Iranian woman who died in Tehran on 16th September that year from injuries sustained following her arrest by the so-called ‘morality police’ for not wearing a hijab in accordance with government standards.  Seven days later, Sarina was beaten by the Iranian security forces and died from her injuries, the regime claiming she killed herself.  The song aims to capture Sarina’s free spirit, the promise and hope of her short life.

The Days of Ash EP includes a reading of ‘Wildpeace’ - a poem by Israeli author and poet Yehuda Amichai - by Nigerian artist Adeola of Les Amazones d'Afrique, with music by U2 and Jacknife Lee.

‘One Life At A Time’ is written for Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian father of three. A nonviolent activist and English teacher, Awdah was killed in his village in the West Bank by Israeli settler Yinon Levi on July 28th, 2025.  Awdah was a consultant on the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land,” made by Palestinians and Israelis.  At his funeral, one of the directors, Basel Adra, spoke of the slaughter of his friend and the experience of Palestinians being erased “one life at a time.” U2 took that line and turned it around to suggest that a peaceful resolution will be wrought “one life at a time.”

‘Yours Eternally’ sees Bono and The Edge joined on vocals by Ukrainian musician-turned-soldier Taras Topolia, as well as Ed Sheeran. In the spring of 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bono and The Edge traveled to Kyiv to busk in a metro station at the invitation of President Zelensky. A couple of days prior to that, Ed connected Taras Topolia, and by extension his band Antytila, with Bono. Bono, Taras and The Edge met for the first time on that subway platform. They’ve been friends ever since. Taras is the inspiration for ‘Yours Eternally’, a song written in the form of a letter from a soldier on active duty with a bold, mischievous spirit to match Ukraine’s.

‘Yours Eternally’ will also be proudly accompanied by a short 4½ minute documentary film directed by Ukrainian cinematographer and filmmaker Ilya Mikhaylus, that will be released on Tuesday, February 24th - the 4th anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Shot in December 2025 while Mikhaylus and his crew were embedded alongside the 40,000-strong Khartiya Corps, the film captures the extraordinary daily lives of Alina and her fellow soldiers fighting on the frontlines of the war.

U2 Days of Ash EP is accompanied by the return of ‘Propaganda’ as a one-off digital zine, with a limited-edition print run. Forty years ago, in February 1986, the first issue of ‘Propaganda’ dropped through the letterboxes of U2 fans around the world. Aspiring to match other fan magazines at that time, ‘Propaganda’ was born out of the punk-era D.I.Y. zine culture that embraced attitude, ideas and dialogue. In the spirit of those early issues, this standalone EP will be accompanied by a one-off limited edition print run plus digital e-zine drop of ‘Propaganda’ titled ‘U2 - Days Of Ash: Six Postcards From The Present… Wish We Weren’t Here. This 52-page special publication accompanies the release of the Days Of Ash EP and includes exclusive interviews with ‘Yours Eternally’ film director Ilya Mikhaylus and film producer Pyotr Verzilov, as well as musician and soldier Taras Topolia. It also includes song lyrics; notes from the four band members; plus a Q&A interview with Bono.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:
Contributions in support of freedom and human rights will be made to the following organisations:

•     Amnesty International -Amnesty.org
•     The Committee to Protect Journalists -CPJ.org
•     UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency - UNHCR.org

U2 - Days Of Ash EP will be available as a digital download, as well as on all DSPs. Listen HERE.

The one-off special edition of Propaganda, ‘U2 - Days Of Ash: Six Postcards From The Present… Wish We Weren’t Here’, is available digitally and as a limited print run at select independent record stores across Europe and North America.

U2 Days of Ash - EP Tracklisting:

1. American Obituary
2. The Tears of Things
3. Song of The Future
4. 4.Wildpeace - by Yehuda Amichai, read by Adeola, with music by U2 and Jacknife Lee.
5. One Life At A Time
6. Yours Eternally (ft. Ed Sheeran & Taras Topolia)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4pBXzDPErQ&list=PL80sr_OFD9CFmlBuTHNeqKcYWqyjLKW08&index=2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oo8U9sW2-Qo&list=PL80sr_OFD9CFmlBuTHNeqKcYWqyjLKW08&index=3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4Y-KQiOLO0&list=PL80sr_OFD9CFmlBuTHNeqKcYWqyjLKW08&index=4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRmpvPtcTAQ&list=PL80sr_OFD9CFmlBuTHNeqKcYWqyjLKW08&index=5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfridIxuzd0&list=PL80sr_OFD9CFmlBuTHNeqKcYWqyjLKW08&index=6

by Miranda