U2 have released a brand-new six-track politically charged EP ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Called Days of Ash, the band describe it as a "new standalone six-track EP". Island Records announced the EP on Ash Wednesday, 18 February.
Days of Ash contains a set of six tracks and new videos, and it is accompanied by a special one-off digital zine of the U2 magazine Propaganda, which was the official band magazine, first published in 1986.
The release is described as a "self-contained collection of five new songs and a poem" framed as "six postcards from the present".
The track list comprises American Obituary, The Tears of Things, Song of the Future, Wildpeace, One Life at a Time and Yours Eternally (ft. Ed Sheeran & Taras Topolia).
Watch: Arts and Media Correspondent Evelyn O'Rourke reports on the new U2 album
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The six tracks are described as "an immediate response" to current events and "inspired by the many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the frontlines of freedom".
U2 said that "in advance of a new album in late 2026", they have been writing and recording on and off "ever since the final Sphere shows in March 2024" in Las Vegas. They added that the album is "not far behind", but "doesn't include any of these tracks".
They explained: "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."
Bono said it was a "thrill having the four of us back together in the studio over the last year", adding that "These EP tracks couldn't wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world."
Bono described the EP tracks as "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 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."
To mark this new EP, the one-off edition of digital zine Propaganda is titled Six Postcards from the Present… Wish We Weren't Here. Its 52 pages include new interviews with the band members and their collaborators, in which they explain the background to this release in more detail.
U2 have published a note at the beginning of Propaganda stating that "We believe in a world where borders are not erased by force", adding that "We don't call for war. We don't celebrate violence."
The message concludes with "peace lasts only when it is rooted in law, restraint, and respect for human life - on every side".
Six Tracks
The six tracks explore current world themes, including the politically charged American Obituary, which is the opening track on the EP.
It addresses the impact of the death of 37-year-old Renée Nicole Macklin Good in Minneapolis by ICE, the US Immigration Enforcement Agency, on 7 January.
In the wide-ranging interview in Propaganda, Bono said he had started writing the lyrics for the song the day after her death because "a young mother was shot dead in broad daylight in her car, leaving three children behind".
He added: "This was an attempt to assassinate meaning itself… the meaning of words… the meaning of truth.
"If you let people away with that… you can kiss your democracy goodbye."
Good's family welcomed the song, in a statement.
"Renee didn't just believe in kindness; she lived it, fully and fiercely," said Becca Good, Renee's partner.
"Renee always showed up for others. She believed every person deserved the same compassion, care, and dignity regardless of who they were, where they came from, or what they looked like. It was the core
of who she was. She valued people, community, and connection.
"She would be deeply moved by this tribute from U2, and would hope it makes a difference in the world."
Good's parents and siblings said: "It is an incredible honor to have the talent and impact of U2 spreading a message of peace in Renee’s name.
"We certainly feel the urgency of the country’s situation reflected in the band’s powerful call for change and coming together."
In a wide-ranging interview in Propaganda, Bono also discussed the people "who inspired the songs" and a number of other current themes that also appear on Days of Ash.
In reply to the questions about him "singing about America again", he said that "This is a country that we love and has loved us back."
"Amazingly, Americans for the most part have given U2, and me in particular, permission to mouth off… and on this stuff I think people know that I've been an equal opportunity pest on the left as well as the right."
He explained how "American Obituary is a song of fury… but more than that… a song of grief. Not just for Renée, but the death of an America that at the very least would have had an inquiry into her killing… for her family as well as the credibility of law enforcement."
He called for an independent inquiry "to take place not just for the sake of justice being seen to be done, but for the sake of a man who clearly made a decision he's gonna have to live with for the rest of his life… Renée doesn't get to live with it."
Bono said another track on the EP, Song of the Future, was written "To honour the exuberance of the schoolgirl uprising in Iran… the song, like the movement it inspired, ends on a sour note, as it was so brutally crushed… over five hundred people killed in 2022 including 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh", who he described as the "Star of our song… who was killed by the 'morality police' in Iran in 2022."
He described the track One Life at a Time as "our attempt to offer up a beautiful melody as, I hope, some kind of balm inspired by an extraordinary Palestinian man (Awdah Hathaleen)".
The 31-year-old featured in the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land and was killed by an Israeli settler in the West Bank in 2025.
In Propaganda, Bono also addressed the war in Gaza.
"From where I stand with a limited view, Judaism, one of the great and noble religions, is being slandered by far-right fundamentalists from within its own community… I could argue the same about Christianity or Islam," said Bono.
He added that "the rape, murder and abduction of Israelis on 7 October was evil... but self-defence is no defence for the sweeping brutality of Netanyahu's response, measured by the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians".
The track follows the Israeli author Yehuda Amichai's poem Wildpeace, read by Nigerian artist Adeola.
The closing track on the EP is called Yours Eternally. Bono explained that it was inspired by Taras Topolia, "The singer of the band Antytila that Edge and I met when we travelled to Ukraine."
The track features the vocals of fellow singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran.
A short documentary film to accompany the song Yours Eternally will also be released on 24 February.
He said that when they busked in Ukraine, it was for "the news cameras", it was "our attempt to remind Europeans we understand you are fighting for our freedom as well as your own".
Many fans will be delighted to see the return of drummer Larry Mullen Jr playing on Days of Ash.
He had been dealing with well-reported back injuries for years.
Larry Mullen Jr told Propaganda that "it wasn't easy missing the Sphere through injury, not least because the Achtung Baby suite may be my favourite among all our work".
The drummer shared more details about his health, which led to him pulling out of the gigs.
He described how "I'd ignored the symptoms over a few years and just pushed through", adding that "it turns out that I'm not invincible and when you don't listen to your body, the consequences are inevitable".
He described how returning to the studio to play with the others was "a big deal".
Speaking about the new tracks and some of the political themes on the EP, Larry Mullen Jr said "going back to our earliest days, working with Amnesty or Greenpeace, we've never shied away from taking a position", adding that "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".
Contributions from Days of Ash will be made to Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and UNHCR.
