U2 surprise fans again with Easter Lily EP

The EP was released at 5am on Good Friday and follows last month's politically charged Days of Ash , which was released on Ash Wednesday.

Taken together, the two releases point to a band moving to its own rhythm as work continues on a new studio album expected later in 2026.

The release is the latest chapter in the story of one of Ireland's most successful bands.

With more than 175 million records sold worldwide, 22 Grammy Awards and a catalogue that has repeatedly topped charts on both sides of the Atlantic, U2 remain one of the country’s biggest and most influential musical exports.

In a note to fans, Bono said U2 are still in the studio working towards a "noisy, messy, unreasonably colourful" record built to be played live, but said Easter Lily came from a more intimate place.

While Days of Ash responded to what he described as chaos in the outside world, Bono said the new songs ask more personal questions around friendship, faith, endurance and renewal.

Those themes run through Easter Lily, a record shaped by loss and memory, but also by tenderness, defiance and hope.

Opening track Song for Hal is a lament for the late Hal Willner, the influential music producer and longtime friend of the band, who died in 2020.

The song features The Edge on lead vocals, with the guitarist describing it as a lockdown-era piece written in the shadow of grief and isolation.

Elsewhere, In a Life is framed as a celebration of friendship, while Scars leans into self-acceptance and survival with a tougher, post-punk edge.

Resurrection Son g, one of the EP’s longest-gestating tracks, is described as a road-trip song that combines uplift with a degree of self-awareness, while Easter Parade leans into themes of rebirth, doubt and transcendence.

Closing track COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?) features a new soundscape by Brian Eno and is described as a lullaby for parents of children caught up in war.

The release is accompanied by another special digital edition of the band’s original fan magazine Propaganda .

Titled U2 - Propaganda - Easter Lily , it includes sleeve notes from The Edge, reflections from Adam Clayton, in-studio photographs shot by Larry Mullen Jr, lyrics, and a conversation between Bono and Franciscan friar Richard Rohr.

In the accompanying feature, The Edge said the songs on Easter Lily effectively demanded a release of their own, separate from the album U2 are currently making.

"It’s as if the songs are the boss," he said.

Read U2 - Propaganda - Easter Lily here
The guitarist also suggested the timing of the release, arriving 40 days after Ash Wednesday, was less part of some grand design than something the songs themselves seemed to insist on.

U2 have long drawn on spiritual imagery and ritual in their music, from 40 to Yahweh , but Easter Lily approaches those ideas from a quieter, more searching place.

If Days of Ash looked outward, this is a record that turns inward.

The six-track Easter Lily EP is available now as a digital download and across streaming platforms.

Song for Hal In a Life Scars Resurrection Song Easter Parade COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?)