U2 Band • Page 20

solid 5-song EP

(I kid, I haven't listened to this yet - but that's a cool surprise)

 

cannot lie im not in a u2 mood right now like at all lol im gonna have to do a discog run to place this in context but so far this is solid. the tears of things is, albeit a little too long, pretty tasteful musically i dig the modulations between major and minor

 

one life at a time is really good lol love all those cascading vocal layers, thats the winner for me. track has gotta be the most theyve evoked the spaciousness of unforgettable fire in ages while also still feeling planted in the present

 

damn not gonna have a chance to listen till tonight but pleasantly surprised they actually did something spontaneous

 

the press release mentions an album later this year quite a few times, not gonna hold my breath but cool

 

So uhhh this was a COMPLETE surprise. As someone deep in the U2 world there were zero murmurs of this whatsoever. So needless to say, today was awesome.

I think this is a GREAT release. I love that they dropped it with no pretense and pulled zero punches about what they were trying to say with these songs. And on top of that, the songs -- in the lyrics, music, production, etc. all feel pretty "loose". Which is something I've been waiting for from them for quite a while.

The Tears of Things is an absolute standout. It might be one of their best songs of the 2000s. The way it builds and builds, along with Bono's singing and the lyrical content, absolutely gives me chills. Worth it for this song alone.

Other favs are Song of the Future (catchy af) and One Life at a Time (great solo/breakdown). I could go on but for now, very happy fan. The boys can still surprise us.

 

this is so cool to read - I cannot wait to listen to this now

 

was not enthused by the opener, pretty bad but The Tears Of Things is great

 

yea first song is a rough start but the rest of this is strong, One Life at a Time especially. didn't even mind the Ed feature

 

It sounds way more like Songs of Experience to me than I expected from something that is coming almost a decade after that album.

 

is that a good or bad thing...?

 

I personally liked Experience a lot, so I'm not that mad about it, but I was hoping for a big leap in a new direction after all those years, and this isn't that. Also, the songs I feel this calls back to the most ("American Obituary" to "American Soul," or "Song of the Future" to "The Showman") were not my favorite parts of that album.

Glad to get new U2 music in any form, though. I hope there's more to come.

 

I think the EP is pretty good, especially “Song of the Future,” but I’m mostly hoping that this means another episode of U Talkin’ U2 to Me? is coming

 

I’m really liking this. Sounds so much more organic and band like than they have in a long long time, rather than trying to be U2 the biggest band in the world. Not overthinking it, not bringing in 8 different producers. A couple tracks are real gems, and the rest are all pretty great too. Really hope the album they’re talking up has some of this spirit to it

 

touching my feet down on the classics again for the first time in over a year and god drowning man is so phenomenal. even with how much they experimented with different types of textural music afterwards thats still one of the most atmospheric and absorbing tracks in their whole catalog

 

Highly, highly recommend reading the zine they put out with this. I'm only part way through but the Bono interview is really interesting and illuminates from how considered a place their music is coming.

https://propaganda.u2.com/

 

EP is really starting to hit me now. Tears of Things is their best song since Moment of Surrender, I truly thought we'd never get a U2 moment as powerful as that "when people go round talking to god it always ends in tears" mic drop

One Life at a Time is really sinking its hooks in too, almost sounds like a Zooropa song with the heavy drums and vocal layers. love the lyrical callback to No Line as well

 

I am loving this EP. I wasn't sure they still had it in them - not to make the songs & music, because they absolutely do have that, but to actually release them quickly without overthinking and overworking and overcooking everything to where it loses what made it great in the first place.

Not crazy about the opener as a song to listen to, but the lyrics are great and I respect what they're doing with it. I have similar feelings about the short poem/spoken word song. I was making jokes about the Ed Sheeran feature before I even heard it, but I really made an effort to try to give it a chance and not write it off ahead of time, and it's honestly a fantastic song. I don't think I would have even picked out that it's other people being featured in the song if I didn't know before listening, honestly, and probably would have just thought it was The Edge or Larry or Adam chipping in on vocals.

If this EP is any indication, I really hope they follow through on releasing the album proper quickly / this year and don't mess around with it too too much.

Very cool surprise from these guys.

 

yeah its so cool seeing them not only do something spontaneously but do something spontaneously that i enjoy, good stuff. been talking to a lot of people lately who just think this is more of the same stuff they were peddling on experience and im kinda baffled by that perspective lol but whatever

 

man, this just keeps getting better and better for me with each listen

these songs are really, really great

 

There's a new U Talkin U2 to Me ep to talk about the EP.

 

it's funny imagining how this sentence would read to somebody without context

 

I thought of that and had a good chuckle while I was posting.

 

holy shit, they won't stop this year

 

Edge vox on the first track we won