U2 have released a new six-track EP, Days of Ash, ahead of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Announced by Island Records on 18 February, Ash Wednesday, the project is described by the band as a “new standalone six-track EP” and a “self-contained collection of five new songs and a poem” framed as “six postcards from the present”.
The release is accompanied by a one-off digital edition of Propaganda, the band’s official magazine first launched in 1986. Titled Six Postcards From The Present… Wish We Weren’t Here, the 52-page zine features new interviews in which the band explain the background to the EP. In a note to readers, they write: “We believe in a world where borders are not erased by force,” adding, “We don’t call for war. We don’t celebrate violence.” The message concludes: “peace lasts only when it is rooted in law, restraint, and respect for human life - on every side”.
Days of Ash contains the tracks American Obituary, The Tears Of Things, Song Of The Future, Wildpeace, One Life At A Time and Yours Eternally (ft. Ed Sheeran & Taras Topolia). The band call the songs “an immediate response” to global events and say they were “inspired by the many extraordinary and courageous people fighting on the front lines of freedom”. Although U2 are working toward a new album due in late 2026, they stress that it “doesn’t include any of these tracks”. Bono said it was a “thrill having the four of us back together in the studio over the last year”, adding, “These EP tracks couldn’t wait; these songs were impatient to be out in the world.”
He described the collection 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.”
Opening track American Obituary addresses the death of Renée Nicole Macklin Good in Minneapolis. Bono said he began writing it the day after her killing because “a young mother was shot dead in broad daylight in her car leaving three children behind”. He called the song “a song of fury… but more than that… a song of grief.”
Song Of The Future honours the 2022 schoolgirl uprising in Iran and 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, who Bono described as the “Star of our song… who was killed by the ‘morality police’ in Iran in 2022.” One Life At A Time was inspired by Palestinian activist Adwah Hathaleen, while Wildpeace follows a poem by Yehuda Amichai.
The closing track, Yours Eternally, features Ed Sheeran and Ukrainian singer Taras Topolia of Antytila. A short documentary accompanying the song will be released on 24 February. Proceeds from Days of Ash will support Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and UNHCR.
