U2 is not exactly easing back into the release cycle. After going years without putting out a batch of newly written material, the band has now delivered its second six-song EP of 2026, this one arriving just after midnight on the East Coast as Good Friday began.

The new collection, Easter Lily, follows Days of Ash, which landed on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18. That earlier EP leaned into war, conflict, and upheaval. This one, at least on paper, is the gentler sibling, with more spiritual and reflective themes. A small mercy, perhaps, for anyone trying to keep up with U2’s sudden interest in liturgical scheduling.

The track list

  • Song for Hal
  • In a Life
  • Scars
  • Resurrection Song
  • Easter Parade
  • COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?) feat. a new soundscape by Brian Eno

Like the February release, Easter Lily is available only digitally. There is no LP or CD edition attached to it. It also arrives with a substantial new issue of Propaganda, the band’s revived fan magazine, which is being rolled out alongside the music in digital form.

Bono also sent fans a note to make one thing very clear: these EPs are not the long-promised album, and the long-promised album is still supposedly alive somewhere in the studio.

“We are in the studio, still working towards a noisy, messy, ‘unreasonably colourful’ album to play LIVE… which is where U2 lives,” he wrote. “We still look to vivid rock ‘n’ roll as an act of resistance against all this awfulness on our small screens. These are for sure ‘wilderness years’ for so many of us looking at the mayhem out there in the world.”

He went on to say the band has been writing from a more personal place, trying to make songs that fit the moment without pretending the moment is especially comforting.

“It’s a time that has our band digging deeper into our lives to find a wellspring of songs to try meet the moment… With ‘Easter Lily’ we ended up asking very personal questions like: Are our own relationships up to these challenging times? How hard do you fight for friendship? Can our faith survive the mangling of meaning that those algorithms love to reward? Is all religion rubbish and still ripping us apart…? Or are there answers to find in its crevices? Are there ceremonies, rituals, dances that we might be missing in our lives? From the rite of Spring to Easter and its promise of rebirth and renewal… Patti Smith’s album ‘Easter’ gave me so much hope when it was released in 1978. I wasn’t yet 18. The title is a nod to her.”

He closed with a wink that only a frontman with a decades-long relationship to grand gestures could manage:

“We will attempt hoopla and fanfare at a later date to remind the rest of the world we exist but in the meantime… this is between you and us.”

The band’s announcement breaks down the songs this way:

  • “Song for Hal” is a COVID-19 lockdown lament, sung by The Edge, and written for U2 friend and music-maker Hal Willner, who would have turned 70 on Easter Monday and died nearly six years ago to the day.
  • “In a Life” is a song about friendship.
  • “Scars” is described as a song of encouragement and acceptance, scars included, with a twist.
  • “Resurrection Song” centers on pilgrimage, framed as a road trip into the unknown with a lover or friend.
  • “Easter Parade” is a devotional track about new life, rebirth, and resurrection.
  • “COEXIST (I Will Bless The Lord At All Times?)” is described as a lullaby for parents of children caught up in war, featuring a soundscape by Brian Eno.

So, for now, U2 is releasing seasonal six-song sets, revisiting the language of faith, grief, friendship, and renewal, and insisting that the actual album is still on the way. It is a lot of material, sure, but at least the band is making the calendar do some of the conceptual heavy lifting.