Rock band U2 have surprise released a “defiant”, politically-charged EP titled ‘Days Of Ash’.
The new release features six tracks which the band have described as a response to current events.
As per a press release, 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.”
The opening track, ‘American Obituary’, references the tragedy that unfolded in Minnesota on 7 January, when Renee Good was fatally shot by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.
The song features the lyrics: “Renee Good born to die free / American mother of three / Seventh day January / A bullet for each child, you see / The colour of her eye / 930 Minneapolis / To desecrate domestic bliss / Three bullets blast, three babies kissed / Renee the domestic terrorist???“
The music video accompanying the release shows clips of the Statue of Liberty with its eyes covered with the word ‘REDACTED’, scenes of marches, and graffiti reading: “America Wake Up”.
The lyric “America will rise against the people of the lie” is projected over the image of the Statue of Liberty wearing a typical red and oversized Trump tie.
Elsewhere on the EP, ‘The Tears Of Things’ examines how one can live compassionately in a time of violence, while ‘Song of the Future’ was written to honour the life of 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, who was one of thousands of Iranian schoolgirls who took to the streets as part of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in 2022. Esmailzadeh was detained by Iranian security forces and died from injuries.
‘Wildpeace’ centers on a poem by Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, while ‘One Life At A Time’ is dedicated to a Palestinian father of three and teacher Awdah Hathaleen, who was killed in his village in the West Bank by an Israeli settler last year.
The EP ends with a song called ‘Yours Eternally’, which is a collaboration with Ed Sheeran and Ukrainian musician-turned-soldier Taras Topolia. The track is written in the form of a letter from a soldier on active duty, and is accompanied by a short documentary film directed by Ukrainian cinematographer and filmmaker Ilya Mikhaylus. The film captures the daily lives of soldiers fighting on the frontlines of the war, and will be released on Tuesday 24 February – four years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking about the new EP, Bono said in a statement: “These EP tracks couldn’t wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world. They are 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.”
Bono also shared that a full album of new material will be arriving later in 2026.
The band have also announced a new one-off edition of their classic fanzine ‘Propaganda’. It features a Q&A with Bono, notes from his bandmates, exclusive interviews with ‘Yours Eternally’ film director Ilya Mikhaylus and film producer Pyotr Verzilov. Check it out here.
In releasing the EP, U2 join Bruce Springsteen in targeting ICE through music. The Boss released his protest song ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ last month, a track dedicated to “the people of Minneapolis, our immigrant neighbours and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.”
His song also takes aim at both Trump advisor Stephen Miller and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, both of which have peddled falsehoods about Good and Pretti, accusing them of being “domestic terrorists”.
“Their claim was self-defense, sir / Just don’t believe your eyes / It’s our blood and bones / And these whistles and phones / Against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies.”
Renee Good, 37, was fatally shot by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis on 7 January. Her death triggered mass protests across the country.
Alex Pretti, also 37, was killed on 24 January by an officer who shot him 10 times in a few seconds. Pretti had been part of the peaceful protests unfolding in the wake of Good’s death.