Releasing a second set of new music in less than two months, U2 surprised fans with Easter Lily, their six-track EP that arrived this week as a companion piece to February’s Days of Ash.
Representing a prolific new chapter for the iconic Irish rockers, their current releases follow a period of relative silence given their drummer Larry Mullen Jr.’s recovery from neck surgery, whose recent return has seemingly revitalized the group’s creative energy.
While their previous EP seemed like a series of urgent dispatches from a world in turmoil, Bono described Easter Lily as originating from a “more intimate place,” focusing on themes of spiritual endurance, friendship, and renewal.
Music industry insiders and critics have praised the band’s “endearingly honest” approach to their age with Stuart Clark of Hot Press noting that while the record retains the classic “80s guitar jangle” associated with The Edge, the lyrics reflect the perspective of men in their sixties rather than attempting to recapture their youth. The Irish Times echoed this sentiment, describing the work as a questing record about the possibility of rebirth – a fitting theme for an Easter-season release.
U2’s two EP collections serve as a bridge to a forthcoming studio full-length expected later this year which the legendary band’s frontman characterized as “noisy, messy, and unreasonably colorful.”
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Petr (Happy24)