"I have confidence the righteous will rise up against this aberration": U2 slam ICE, Putin, Netanyahu and more on surprise-released politically charged EP, Days Of Ash

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By ( Classic Rock, Louder ) published

U2's first collection of new songs in nearly a decade pays tribute to Renee Good, the US citizen killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis, and others

U2
(Image credit: Sam Jones)

U2 have surprise-released a new EP, Days Of Ash. The politically charged material is the band's first collection of new songs since 2017's Songs Of Experience.

In a statement, the band say: "On this Ash Wednesday, Days Of Ash is released as a self-contained collection of five new songs and a selected poem - American Obituary, The Tears Of Things, Song Of The Future, Wildpeace, One Life At A Time and Yours Eternally (ft. Ed Sheeran & Taras Topolia).

"This new EP is a response to current events, inspired by the many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the frontlines of freedom. Four of the five tracks are about individuals – a mother, a father, a teenage girl whose lives were brutally cut short - and a soldier who’d rather be singing but is ready to die for the freedom of his country."

The victims include Renee Good, the mother of three killed while protesting ICE agent activity in Minneapolis last month, Sarina Esmailzadeh, who was beaten to death by Iranian security forces during protests in 2022, and Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist killed by an Israeli settler in the West Bank last year. Yours Eternally, meanwhile, is sung as a letter from a Ukrainian soldier engaged in the ongoing conflict with Russia.

"Ask anyone in east Germany or Poland or Latvia if they think Putin will stop at Ukraine if he can get away with it?" writes Bino in a one-off edition of U2's Propaganda fanzine. "He’d find an excuse to invade Ireland if it suited his purposes."

The EP also includes Wildpeace, a poem by Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, read by Nigerian musician Adeola.

"It’s the moral force of Judaism that helped shape Western civilisation," says Bono. "As with Islamophobia, antisemitism must be countered every time we witness it. 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."

"We believe in a world where borders are not erased by force. Where culture, language and memory are not silenced by fear," says guitarist The Edge. "Where the dignity of a people is not negotiable. This belief isn’t temporary. It isn’t political fashion. It’s the ground we stand on. And we stand there together."

"The death of truth is the birth of evil," adds Bono. "I have confidence the righteous will rise up against this aberration. I have many dear conservative friends who are as worried about the far right as my democratic ones are worried about the far left. Surely the world needs a 'radical centre' that draws from both traditions."

All six tracks can be streamed below.

Fraser Lewry
Fraser Lewry
Online Editor, Classic Rock

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.

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