U2 Return with New EP Easter Lily
Pitchfork • • entertainment
Key Points:
- U2 has released their second EP of 2026, Easter Lily, a six-track collection that follows last month’s Days of Ash and includes a collaboration with producer Brian Eno.
- Easter Lily explores personal themes, opening with "Song for Hal," a tribute to late friend and producer Hal Willner, and reflects on faith, relationships, and rituals amid challenging times, inspired in part by Patti Smith’s 1978 album Easter.
- The EP’s closing track, "COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?)," produced by Eno, was written for parents of children growing up in war zones, reflecting the band’s ongoing engagement with global issues such as the Gaza conflict.
- Alongside Easter Lily, U2 released a new digital edition of their Propaganda zine featuring essays, conversations, and photographs by band members, continuing a tradition dating back to 1986.
- Both EPs precede U2’s upcoming full-length album slated for late 2026, which Bono describes as a "noisy, messy, ‘unreasonably colourful’ album" intended for live performance and inspired by rock as an act of resistance in difficult times.
