U2 Unwraps ‘Easter Lily’ EP: Stream It Now

It’s Easter and U2 is sharing the goodies.

The legendary Irish rock band’s latest release is Easter Lily EP (via Island Records), a six-pack of new recordings that drops today (April 3), Good Friday. Easter Lily closely follows the release last month of the Days of Ash EP, timed to arrive on Ash Wednesday.

Where Days of Ash was U2’s “response to chaotic times in the outside world,” Easter Lily is a “much more reflective set of songs emerging from a more personal, private place that some may retreat to in such times,” reads a statement from the record company.

Its works explore themes of friendship, loss, hope, and ultimately, renewal, and includes a contribution from Brian Eno, a soundscape on the closing track “COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?),” which U2 depicts as a lullaby for parents of children caught up in war.

The new collection is a “separate, self-contained collection,” the Universal Music Group label’s message continues, and is something to tide over U2 fans as Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen and Adam Clayton knuckle-down on recording sessions for a new studio album. That project is said to be “ongoing.”

Bono has shared an update on the LP, the followup to 2023’s Songs of Surrender, which debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart.

“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,” the singer explains.

“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.”

The fourpiece “will attempt hoopla and fanfare at a later date to remind the rest of the world we exist but in the meantime,” Bono continues, “this is between you and us.”

Accompanying the new EP is a special digital e-zine edition of “Propaganda,” the first of which was published more than 40 years ago, in February 1986. Each of the bandmates contribute to “U2 – Propaganda – Easter Lily,” which gathers a conversation between Bono and Franciscan friar Richard Rohr; in-the-studio photographs shot by Mullen; song lyrics; a piece on their producer, Jacknife Lee; and more.

Formed in Dublin with their political hearts exposed on their collective sleeves, U2 would become arguably the world’s biggest band in the second half of the 1980s, a crown they managed to wear well into the ‘90s despite the explosion of grunge, indie, alternative rock, hip-hop and electronic dance music.

The band has landed 34 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, including two leaders, along with eight No. 1s on the Billboard 200 chart. Induction into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame came in 2005. U2 had the honors of being the first band to play the Sphere in Las Vegas, which they inaugurated in September 2023 with the residency, U2:UV Achtung Baby Live at Sphere.

Stream Easter Lily below and watch the lyric videos here.

“U2 – Easter Lily” tracklist: