U2 Confront The Present With Urgent EP "Days Of Ash"

Written By: Big C

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Photo Credit: Antoon Corvijn

Ash falls before renewal. With Days Of Ash, U2 releases an album preview with a standalone EP. The release is further framed by the revival of Propaganda, the band’s iconic fan magazine, returning as a special one-off edition titled Six Postcards From The Present… Wish We Weren’t Here. Carrying songs of defiance, lamentation, and uneasy hope, six pieces written in response to a world that refuses to sit still. The band turn their gaze toward individuals caught in the crossfire of history: a protesting mother, a teenage girl in Iran, a Palestinian father, a soldier fighting for Ukraine. Bono had to say:

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. 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 normalized 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. "If you have a chance to hope it’s a duty…” is a line we borrowed from Lea Ypi. A laugh would be nice too. Thank you.

The project culminates in Yours Eternally, featuring Ed Sheeran and Ukrainian musician-turned-soldier Taras Topolia, a letter from the frontlines that will be accompanied by a short documentary film premiering February 24, marking the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The album arrives as a self-contained statement ahead of their forthcoming late-2026 record. Stream "Days Of Ash" and the lyrical video below.

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