The Edge has teased that he the rest of U2 have linked up with Brian Eno to work on music that could potentially land on the band’s next album — and as he tells it, the results might not sound like what fans are expecting.
“We were in the studio the other day just working on some crazy new music,” the guitarist said. “Bono and I are working on some crazy kind of sci-fi Irish folk music… which could end up becoming a part of the new U2 album. We’re not sure yet, we’ll see.”
The Edge spoke on the new music during an interview with BBC Radio 2, where he touched on the 20th anniversary of U2’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, as well as the fittingly-titled reissue How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb.
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Offering more insight into the ongoing operations of U2, The Edge explained, “Part of our kind of process is to go so widely… off track, and then sort of the process of bringing things back on track is kind of how you get sort of unique sounding music.”
Notably, the Edge also revealed that drummer Larry Mullen Jr. was involved in the recording sessions. Mullen Jr. has been U2’s drummer since their formation, though he sat out during their residency at The Sphere in order to recover from surgery.
“We’re at that great phase where we don’t have to over think it, we’re just making music and loving that process,” The Edge added. “And then we’ll figure out where things belong afterwards, so there’s a couple of different projects [I’m working on]. Definitely U2, with Larry, which is wonderful. We’ve got him in the studio… he’s good, he’s taking it easy, but he’s back in the saddle on the drums [and] doing some recording with us, and so we’ll be doing a bit more of that before the end of the year.”
U2’s most recent album is 2023’s Songs of Surrender, which featured new takes on several songs from their catalog. The band’s most recent LP of new material is Songs of Experience, which dropped back in 2017. In 2022, Bono revealed that U2 had nearly completed a new record, which he referred to as Songs of Ascent. However, the band ultimately decided to shelve the project, as the frontman wanted to make a “noisy, uncompromising, unreasonable guitar album.” Seemingly, that desire to record a “fuck-off rock ’n’ roll album” has transformed into an interest in Brian Eno-produced Irish folk music that takes from science fiction.
U2 has remained fairly active within the last year and change. In late 2023, they were the first band to have a residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas. Footage from that run of shows was then turned into an immersive concert film entitled V-U2 (get tickets to an upcoming showing here). Last month, they also released “Happiness,” a 20-year-old song from the How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb sessions.
