U2 guitarist The Edge has confirmed the band are making “great progress” on a new album, though we shouldn’t expect anything soon.
Though U2 are back in the studio, it may be some time before we receive a follow-up to 2023’s Songs of Surrender. Speaking on SiriusXM earlier today, The Edge confirmed that he, Bono, and the rest of the band were back working on fresh material. Jacknife Lee was confirmed as being involved also, with the long-serving music producer having recently worked with the band on their Atomic City release. He also produced the band’s 2004 album, How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, which received a re-release last year alongside a “shadow album” of unreleased material.
The Edge confirmed the group were having “a lot of fun” working together once again. Their step into the studio comes a year after their series of shows at The Sphere in Las Vegas. The veteran guitarist told Jenny Huston of Best Ever Guitar Sound that the band had been writing new material over lockdown.
The Edge said: “We’re having a lot of fun. We’re working together in the studio in various parts of the world with Jacknife Lee. We don’t have anything finished yet, so it’s too early to start telling people what it is, but we’re making great progress.”
Though The Edge provided fans a hopeful update, r/U2Band users were not as optimistic. Excited by new material but wary of the little progress made since the last update, fans were erring on the side of caution when it came to hearing The Edge speak of new music.
One user wrote: “Sounds like Jacknife Lee is at the helm for this one, with the Lillywhite project being put aside. It’s probably too soon to say whether the Eno sessions are being brought into the full band U2 project. ‘We don’t have anything finished yet’ worries me though.
“Adam has repeatedly said they target an initial checkpoint this summer, only two to three months away now. He also said they had some songs done after sessions with Larry back in the studio, in the last twelve months. Now Edge says there isn’t ‘anything finished yet’… I hope it’s referring to the overall project rather than individual songs.”
Another user reflected on the past recording sessions the band had taken part in, with a lack of material coming to light afterwards. One user wrote: “They said that about the last three recording sessions and yet we still haven’t heard a thing from any of these sessions.”
Some have suggested fresh faces in the studio may be a way of getting new material over the line quicker than the last sessions. One person wrote: “They need new collaborators. The negative part of having the same four members for fifty years is that they’ve exhausted their ideas and creative relationships.
“Ronnie Wood, for example, didn’t join The Rolling Stones until 1975 and when he did, it was a new creative voice. I’m not saying I want new members or anything like that, but maybe try some different producers?”
Another added: “If it’s songs to accompany Atomic City… yiz needin bother lads. Wanted Songs of Ascent or the rumoured Brian Eno inspired sci-fi Irish gospel… make music for your fans instead of continuing your delusion of applying to be the number one pop band.”
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