'Not pretending to be 20': U2 drop 'endearingly honest' second surprise EP

Irish rock legends U2 have released their second surprise EP of 2026, with the six-track Easter Lily coming just over 40 days after Days of Ash.

After a quiet period for the band, as drummer Larry Mullen Jr recovered from neck surgery, the two EPs follow confirmation last year that a new studio album is being recorded.

Described by singer Bono as a "noisy, messy, unreasonably colourful" record, it is expected later this year.

He has described Easter Lily as coming from "a more intimate place" with songs "about friendship, faith, endurance and renewal".

This year's EPs are U2's first collections of newly written material since 2017.

The EP comes along with a digital e-zine edition of U2's fanzine Propaganda.

In the e-zine the band's guitarist The Edge, said if Days of Ash was about "a world in trauma", then Easter Lily is about where the band goes for "strength to walk through this world".

Speaking to BBC News NI, Hot Press deputy editor Stuart Clark said: "I really like it, I think with the other six songs [released in February] you feel like the fire is in the belly.

"I suppose when they went and did the Joshua Tree tour you thought are they going to retreat into the back catalogue a wee bit and maybe for a few years they did.

"But throughout their career U2 have always been about the new album, the next bunch of songs."

He said the songs were obviously deeply personal and said there has always been a religious element to their work

"What I like about it is that it sounds fresh but there's still the 80s guitar jangle.

"They're not pretending to be 20 anymore, but there are nods to really classic U2.

"It feels familiar, while lyrically they are writing about their age."

Clark added: "It sounds like they are being very productive and maybe a little liberated because [before] they were a band that had to plan an album release, tour it for an X amount of years, then repeat the cycle."

He said the return of Larry Mullen Jr "in fearsome form" was significant.

"It's always been the four, rarely have bands been so deeply rooted in friendship," he said.

"You thought if for some reason Larry wasn't able possibly to continue, you do wonder would they have had the same appetite they obviously have at the moment."

He said the band's ability to avoid leaks ahead of the release of the two EPs was impressive.

"In an industry with so much scrutiny and so many people around the place with camera phones, they've been really good at keeping things secret.

"When those tracks came out earlier this year - normally you get a bit of advance warning, the fan sites, hints - but they really have managed to keep these two collections of songs coming under the radar."

Other reviews of Easter Lily have been generally favourable.

The Irish Times describes it as a "an endearingly honest, questing record about friendship, faith, art, meaning and, appropriately for Easter, death and the possibility of rebirth".

Reviewer Patrick Freyne adds: "They have taken on a more euphoric register as they've aged."

Music magazine Mojo says the EP is "their best collection of songs in decades".

"While the Days Of Ash material landed like news bulletins from the world's multiple conflict zones – naming names, taking sides – this latest EP is a dispatch from the internal frontline, testing whether ties of faith and friendship will suffice in these dark times," it adds.

Variety says the band "is really starting to prolifically make up for lost time".

"With this release, U2 has bookended Lent with two very different collections."

Formed in Dublin in 1976, U2 emerged as one of the world's top rock bands, selling more than 175m albums.

They have also won 22 Grammy Awards and have topped the music charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bono (Paul Hewson), The Edge (David Evans), Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr have remained members for five decades.

Their last album, 2023's Songs of Surrender, is a collection of re-recorded songs.

Prior to that was 2017's Songs of Experience, their 14th studio album.

Easter Lily is available now as a digital download and across streaming platforms.