As of late, U2 have been having some trouble getting to the finish line. Because their new releases have grown so infrequent and because, as a songwriter, Bono retains the ambition of several precocious Model UN students all vying to be chairperson, even the band’s simplest ideas end up feeling labored to the point of incoherence, abetted by a revolving focus group of co-writers and producers. I’d label it a classic case of “too many cooks,” but then, during the pandemic, Bono and the Edge kept themselves busy by rearranging their hits in understated, acoustic renditions. That humble project wound up spanning four discs and nearly three hours, with at least one track completely rewritten to address then-recent escalations in the Ukraine.
Days of Ash is, by mere virtue of existence, a step in the right direction: a new EP released with little fanfare while the quartet continues work on its first full-length in nine years. The songs were composed recently enough to address political events from this winter, and the slapdash artwork and YouTube-rip-quality mix suggest the band was too excited to slow down and consult many outside collaborators. “Six postcards from the present… We wish we weren’t here” is the subtitle affixed to the release, and it’s a welcome statement from a band that once thrived in the spirit of protest, inspiring several generations to cast their eyes to the world, release their inhibitions, and sing from the heart.
No score yet, be the first to add.
Still, this is a U2 release in 2026 and nothing is quite so simple. Perhaps no EP in rock history has benefited so greatly from a supplementary zine, whose entries detail the exhaustive creative process and sources of inspiration for each of these dense, texturally rich compositions about ICE violence in America and Israeli settlements in the West Bank and teenage uprisings in Iran. This is why, even on a 23-minute stopgap release, we still get a minute-long spoken-word interlude to establish the stakes. And did I mention this band is still actively vying for radio hits? So say hello to Ed Sheeran, who stops by for the closing “Yours Eternally,” a webinar-waiting-room anthem that finally, fully closes any existing gap between the worst tendencies of this band and Coldplay.
At other times, you’re grateful that U2 can’t help being U2. After drummer Larry Mullen Jr. was forced to sit out their Sphere residency while recovering from surgery, one of the EP’s simple pleasures is just hearing the band play together again—one of the only lineups from the classic rock era that remains intact since the beginning and still occasionally sounds inspired. In the 21st century, the Edge has become a significantly more conventional guitarist, trading his effects pedals for propulsive acoustic strumming in “Song of the Future” and arena-ready power chords in “American Obituary.” And Bono deserves credit for pushing himself to sing both urgently and meaningfully—for example, stretching the name of slain activist Sarina Esmailzadeh into a six-syllable refrain in “Song of the Future”—and reminding us that his heart is in the right place.
