U2 have surprisingly released a new “political” EP. It's called Days of Ash and contains five songs and a poem. The band sings about Minneapolis, Iran, the West Bank, Ukraine and defines the songs as “six postcards from a present that we wouldn't want to live in”.
If American Obituary tells of the death in Minneapolis of Renee Good at the hands of ICE agents and The Tears of Things imagine a conversation between David and Michelangelo, the protagonist of Song of the Future she is Sarina Esmailzadeh, an Iranian student who took to the streets in 2022 to protest after the killing of Jina Mahsa Amini and who in turn was beaten to death by security forces.
The poem is titled Wildpeaceis signed by the Israeli Yehuda Amichai and is performed by the Nigerian artist Adeola Soyemi (Les Amazones d'Afrique) to music by U2 and Jacknife Lee, who produced the EP. One Life at a Time is dedicated to Awdah Hathaleen, Palestinian activist and consultant on the documentary No Other Land killed in his West Bank village in July by an Israeli settler. Finally, in Yours Eternally Bono and The Edge are joined by the Ukrainian musician and soldier Taras Topolia, as well as Ed Sheeran who, after the Russian invasion, put U2 in contact with Topolia and his band called Antytila. The song was written in the form of a soldier's letter.
“It's been exciting to find all four of us together in the studio over the last year,” Bono says in a statement. «The songs of Days of Ash they're very different in feel and theme to the ones we'll put on our album later in the year. These EP tracks couldn't wait; these songs were eager to be released to the world. They are songs of challenge and dismay, of lament. Celebration songs will follow, we're working on it now… because despite all the terrible things we see normalized every day on our small screens, there is nothing normal in these crazy and exasperating times and we must fight back before we can have faith in the future again. And in each other. “If you have the opportunity to hope, it is a duty to do so” is a phrase we borrowed from Lea Ypi. A laugh would also be appreciated. Thank you”.
Who needs to hear a new U2 record, asks Larry Mullen Jr? «It just comes down to whether we're making music that we think deserves to be heard. I think these new songs are up there with our best work. We talk a lot about when to release new songs. We don't always know… but given the current situation, it seems like the right time. From our beginnings, when we collaborated with Amnesty or Greenpeace, we have never hesitated to take a stand and sometimes this can create some problems, because there is always some sort of backlash, but it is an important part of who we are and why we still exist.”
For Adam Clayton the songs «arrive at the right time», while The Edge writes that «we believe in a world where borders are not erased by force. Where culture, language and memory are not silenced by fear. In which the dignity of a people is non-negotiable. This belief is not temporary. It's not a political fad. It is the ground on which we stand. And we stand together.”
The short film will be released on Tuesday 24 February, on the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion Yours Eternallya short documentary directed by Ukrainian Ilya Mikhaylus and shot in December when the director and his crew were following the Khartiya Army Corps.
The EP is accompanied by a special digital edition of Propaganda, the official U2 song from the 1980s. Is called U2 – Days Of Ash: Six Postcards From The Present… Wish We Weren't Here and includes exclusive interviews with Mikhaylus and film producer Pyotr Verzilov, as well as musician and soldier Taras Topolia. Also includes song lyrics, notes from the four band members and an interview with Bono.
