Rock band U2 have surprise released a “defiant”, politically-charged EP titled ‘Days Of Ash’.
The new release features six tracks which the band have described as a response to current events.
As per a press release, four of the five tracks “are about individuals – a mother, a father, a teenage girl – whose lives were brutally cut short. A soldier who’d rather be singing but is ready to die for the freedom of his country.”
The opening track, ‘American Obituary’, references the tragedy that unfolded in Minnesota on 7 January, when Renee Good was fatally shot by a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.
The song features the lyrics: “Renee Good born to die free / American mother of three / Seventh day January / A bullet for each child, you see / The colour of her eye / 930 Minneapolis / To desecrate domestic bliss / Three bullets blast, three babies kissed / Renee the domestic terrorist???”
The music video accompanying the release shows clips of the Statue of Liberty with its eyes covered with the word ‘REDACTED’, scenes of marches, and graffiti reading: “America Wake Up”.
The lyric “America will rise against the people of the lie” is projected over the image of the Statue of Liberty wearing a typical red and oversized Trump tie.
Elsewhere on the EP, ‘The Tears Of Things’ examines how one can live compassionately in a time of violence, while ‘Song of the Future’ was written to honour the life of 16-year-old Sarina Esmailzadeh, who was one of thousands of Iranian schoolgirls who took to the streets as part of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in 2022. Esmailzadeh was detained by Iranian security forces and died from injuries.
‘Wildpeace’ centers on a poem by Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, while ‘One Life At A Time’ is dedicated to a Palestinian father of three and teacher Awdah Hathaleen, who was killed in his village in the West Bank by an Israeli settler last year. (Euro News)
