As U2 continue to work on a new studio album, they have dropped a new EP. Easter Lily is a new standalone 6-track collection and follows last month’s Days of Ash EP, released on Ash Wednesday.
The songs on Easter Lily explore themes of friendship, loss, hope, and renewal. Among them are the devotional “Easter Parade” and pilgrimage tale “Resurrection Song.” “Song for Hal” is a COVID-19 lockdown lament, with The Edge on lead vocals, written for the band’s friend, the music-maker, Hal Willner, who would have turned 70 on Easter Monday and passed away almost 6 years ago to the day. “COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?)” is a lullaby for parents of children caught up in war, featuring a soundscape by Brian Eno.
In a note to U2’s audience, Bono said: “We are in the studio, still working towards a noisy, messy, ‘unreasonably colourful’ album to play LIVE… which is where U2 lives. We still look to vivid rock n roll as an act of resistance against all this awfulness on our small screens. These are for sure ‘wilderness years’ for so many of us looking at the mayhem out there in the world. It’s a time that has our band digging deeper into our lives to find a wellspring of songs to try meet the moment… With Easter Lily we ended up asking very personal questions like: Are our own relationships up to these challenging times? How hard do you fight for friendship? Can our faith survive the mangling of meaning that those algorithms love to reward? Is all religion rubbish and still ripping us apart…? Or are there answers to find in its crevices? Are there ceremonies, rituals, dances that we might be missing in our lives? From the rite of Spring to Easter and its promise of rebirth and renewal… Patti Smith’s album Easter gave me so much hope when it was released in 1978. I wasn’t yet 18. The title is a nod to her. We will attempt hoopla and fanfare at a later date to remind the rest of the world we exist but in the meantime… this is between you and us.”
The Easter Lily EP is accompanied by another special digital e-zine edition of Propaganda, which debuted forty years ago in February 1986. This issue features contributions from the four band members including sleeve notes from The Edge; Adam Clayton on art and the journey of recovery; a conversation between Bono and Franciscan friar Richard Rohr; and in-the-studio photographs shot by Larry Mullen Jr. The e-zine also features song lyrics; a piece on their producer, Jacknife Lee; a piece on Hal Willner by his friend Gavin Friday; and more.
