Ed Sheeran and Ukrainian soldier feature on politically driven new U2 record
Days Of Ash is the group’s first release in almost three years.
Irish rock band U2 have released a politically driven new EP which includes collaborations with British singer Ed Sheeran and a Ukrainian musician-turned-soldier.
Days Of Ash was released on Wednesday ahead of the band’s album later this year, and is comprised of five songs and a poem.
It is the group’s first release in almost three years and is a standalone EP described as a “current response to world events”, exploring themes of war, politics and violence.
The band – Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr – have been active since the 1970s and are known for their political activism and social commentary.
One of the tracks on the EP, Yours Eternally, comments on the war between Ukraine and Russia, and features The A Team singer Sheeran and Ukrainian soldier Taras Topolia.
It will be accompanied by a four-minute documentary which will be released next Tuesday to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
American Obituary focuses on the fatal shooting in the US earlier this month of mother-of-three Renee Nicole Macklin Good, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.
Other songs on the record explore the Israel-Palestine war and the Women, Life, Freedom protest movement, which was launched in Iran in September 2022, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini under suspicious circumstances while in police custody.
The EP includes Nigeran artist Adeola, from supergroup Les Amazones d’Afrique, reciting the poem Wildpeace, by Israeli writer Yehuda Amichai.
Bono, real name Paul Hewson, said: “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.”
The 65-year-old singer described the new tracks as “songs of defiance, dismay and lamentation”, adding: “Songs of celebration will follow, we’re working on those now.
“Because, for all the awfulness we see normalised 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.”
The band’s drummer Mullen said: “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.”
The 64-year-old said the group have “never shied away from taking a position” and referenced their humanitarian work and activism with organisations such as Amnesty International and Greenpeace.
He added: “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.”
Bass player Clayton said he is “excited” about the new songs, adding: “It feels like they’re arriving at the right time.”
Lead guitarist the Edge, real name David Howell Evans, said: “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 new EP is accompanied by a special edition of U2’s magazine Propaganda, which was launched 40 years ago.
The one-off issue is titled U2 – Days Of Ash: Six Postcards From The Present… Wish We Weren’t Here, and is available for fans to read online.
The magazine will have a limited-edition print run, available in independent record stores across Europe and North America.
Days Of Ash is available to stream now on Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music.
