Last Wednesday. No warning, no teasing, no breadcrumb trail. Just U2 dropping “Days Of Ash”, a six track standalone EP that feels less like a routine release and more like a flare shot into a darkened sky. Bono has made it clear these songs were written with urgency, that they did not belong on a shelf waiting for a marketing cycle. That impatience bleeds through the record.
It is the band’s first new music since “Atomic City” in 2023, presented as six postcards from a troubled present. Five songs and a poem, framed as an immediate response to current events rather than a preview of the album expected in 2026. Bono has characterised them as songs shaped by defiance and dismay, arguing that the times demand confrontation before celebration can return.
Political? That has always been baked into the DNA. From early work with Amnesty International and Greenpeace to their current stance, this is not a band that retreats when things get uncomfortable. Larry Mullen Jr has acknowledged that taking positions can invite backlash, but insists it remains central to why they exist. His full return after years of injury gives the EP an added sense of wholeness, the original four back in the room, still willing to argue with the world rather than look away.
“American Obituary” – Fury As Grief
Built on jagged, abrasive guitar lines from The Edge and a clenched, urgent vocal, “American Obituary” confronts the killing of Renée Nicole Macklin Good in Minneapolis head on. The song was written in direct response to her death, channelling anger at what Bono sees as an erosion of truth and accountability. For him, it reflects not only personal tragedy but a deeper wound in American democracy.
Musically, it refuses to collapse under its own weight. Beneath the fury sits grief, and beneath the grief sits defiance. The closing chant turns the track outward, insisting that collective power still outweighs institutional authority. It is protest as lament, and lament as a refusal to surrender.
“The Tears Of Things” – Prayer In A Broken World
Named after Richard Rohr’s meditation on compassion in violent times, “The Tears Of Things” moves with restraint rather than rage. Acoustic textures and a gentle rhythmic shuffle carry religious imagery, including a lyrical exchange between Michelangelo’s David and its creator. The song searches for moral clarity without pretending it has easy answers.
The band frame it as a call for a just two state solution where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side in peace. They stress that peace must be rooted in law, restraint and respect for human life, rejecting both the erasure of borders by force and the celebration of violence. It is less a slogan than a prayer whispered into a fractured landscape.
“Song Of The Future” – A Teenage Uprising
“Song Of The Future” crashes in with disjointed guitar squalls before opening into a soaring, almost classic U2 chorus. It was written in honour of Sarina Esmailzadeh, the 16 year old killed during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests in Iran. Bono positions her as the emotional centre of the track, embodying the exuberance and courage of a youth led uprising.
The structure mirrors the story. It rises with hope, energy and momentum, then sours deliberately as the movement was violently crushed. The ending refuses catharsis. Instead, it leaves a bruise, acknowledging the cost paid by hundreds who took to the streets demanding freedom.
“Wildpeace” – A Poem That Cuts
Rather than reaching for another anthem, the band step back entirely on “Wildpeace”. The track sets Yehuda Amichai’s poem against a stark electronic backdrop composed with producer Jacknife Lee. Nigerian artist Adeola delivers the reading with calm gravity, allowing the words to land without theatricality.
In just ninety seconds, it questions the language of healing and exposes how grief is handed down across generations. There are no guitars pushing for release, no chorus to lift the mood. It is a pause in the record that feels heavier than any crescendo.
“One Life At A Time” – Melody As Balm
Written for Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist killed in the West Bank, “One Life At A Time” rests on Adam Clayton’s deep, steady bass and a searching vocal that never tips into melodrama. Bono has described it as an attempt to offer something beautiful in the face of violence, a melodic balm rather than a political speech.
The song carries its sorrow quietly. It recognises the individual life behind the headlines and resists abstraction. Instead of grandstanding, it focuses on dignity and the human cost of conflict, holding that tension without pretending music can solve it.
“Yours Eternally” – A Letter From The Frontline
“Yours Eternally” grew out of Bono and The Edge busking in Kyiv in 2022, where they met Taras Topolia of Antytila. Written as a letter from a soldier on active duty, the song captures the perspective of someone who would rather be making music but is prepared to fight for his country’s freedom.
Chiming guitars and layered harmonies frame a deeply personal message of longing and vulnerability. With guest vocals from Ed Sheeran and a short documentary marking the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the track avoids abstraction. It narrows the war down to one voice, one relationship, one fragile thread back home.
More Than Just A Release
Alongside the EP, U2 have revived their long running fan magazine Propaganda as a 52 page digital zine, packed with interviews and reflections that unpack the origins of each track. It feels deliberate, almost old school, a return to direct communication rather than filtered headlines. Proceeds from “Days Of Ash” will support Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and UNHCR, reinforcing that this release is meant to carry weight beyond the speakers.
Larry Mullen Jr has openly questioned whether the world even needs another record from them, framing it less as entitlement and more as responsibility. For the band, new music only matters if it earns its place. “Days Of Ash” exists because they believe these songs meet that standard, because the moment demanded it rather than because the calendar did.
This is not a nostalgia exercise and it is not a grand comeback statement. It does not try to recreate “Achtung Baby” or “The Joshua Tree”. Instead, it stands as a dispatch from a band still wrestling with politics, faith and consequence, still convinced that silence would be the greater failure. In 2026, that kind of stubborn belief still counts for something.
