U2 guitarist The Edge has revealed that the band is currently working on new music, but it may not be the album fans were expecting, especially after Bono’s bold comments last year about creating a “noisy, uncompromising, unreasonable guitar album.”
In an interview in 2023, Bono expressed his desire to make a rock album that would stand out, saying, “Right now I want to write the most unforgiving, obnoxious, defiant, fuck-off-to-the-pop-charts rock ‘n’ roll song that we’ve ever made.” He later told Mojo magazine, “I don’t think the world is waiting on the next U2 album. I think we have to give them a reason to be interested in it. I just want to write great tunes, because that’s where U2 started – with big choruses, clear ideas. And let’s go back there, but do it with some petrol and some matches.”
However, according to The Edge’s recent comments on BBC Radio 2 with Jo Whiley on November 25, it seems that U2’s current direction is quite different from the “rock ‘n’ roll” album Bono described. The guitarist shared that he and Bono have been collaborating with renowned ambient music producer Brian Eno in Dublin.
“We’re working on some crazy kind of sci-fi Irish folk music,” The Edge said. “Which could end up becoming a part of the new U2 album. We’re not sure yet, we’ll see.”
He also teased that the band might be bringing in “a bunch of beautiful, Irish musicians” to contribute. “Part of our process is to go so far off track, and then the process of bringing things back on track is how you end up with unique-sounding music,” he explained.
The Edge emphasized that the band is currently enjoying a creative phase where they’re focusing on the music itself without overthinking it. “We’re just making music and loving that process. Then we’ll figure out where things belong afterwards,” he said.
U2’s last album of original material, Songs of Experience, was released in 2017. Fans will have to wait and see if this new direction will become the band’s next major release.
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