U2’s The Edge on releasing new EP ‘Easter Lily’: ‘The songs are the boss’

In conjunction with their newly released EP Easter Lily, U2 released a digital edition of their fanzine Propaganda in which guitarist The Edge gives fans some insight into their decision to release the new EP, as well as Days of Ash, the EP that was released on Ash Wednesday in February.

“We wrote some songs meant for our album but they started to assert themselves in some unexpected ways, demanding special attention,” he says. “Their own devotional world, suggesting they didn’t feel part of our album.”

He added, “So we folded … agreed to their timeline … which was Easter … 40 days after Ash Wednesday … the songs are the boss, you have to do what they say or they’ll abandon you for someone else.”

The Edge says the songs on both EPs “had a point,” noting, “they had a symmetry.”

“If the songs on Days of Ash captured our response to the outside world and emergencies that keep us away at night,” he says, “with the Easter Lily EP it’s more what’s going on in our interior world and asking prayerfully have we the strength to meet the moment personally before we approach the politics.”

Propaganda also includes an interview with U2’s producer Jacknife Lee, who’s working with the band on their upcoming album.

He says of U2’s work in the studio, “[T]he four of them playing in a room was less important for the last few records, there were other things to learn, but they have a new focus on that now.”

“They’re rediscovering their power as a group of people. That is a joy to witness,” he adds. “I think this is an important era for the band. They have not sounded so energized in decades.”

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