Bono on U2’s new album: “You’ve got to deal with the past to get to the present to make the sound of the future”

Bono has shared an update on new music from U2, and said that the writing process has involved them overcoming the past to make “the sound of the future”.

• READ MORE: ‘Bono: Stories of Surrender’ review: U2 frontman’s stunning stage show becomes unmissable film

The frontman shared the update on new material during a new interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live, where he confirmed that the band have been into the studio and are actively looking to start a new chapter.

He appeared on the chat show last night (May 27) in celebration of his upcoming one-man feature Bono: Stories of Surrender. The project is due to stream on Apple TV+ from this Friday (May 30).

When asked by Kimmel how progress on new music – which will mark the follow-up to 2017’s ‘Songs Of Experience’ – was shaping up, Bono responded: “We’ve been in the studio and you’ve sometimes got to deal with the past to get to the present, in order to make the sound of the future. That’s what we want to do.”

While keeping details about the sound vague, the singer shared the mindset that the members have when they come together, and how that has shaped the songs. “It’s the sound of four men, who feel like their lives depend on it. I remind them, they do,” he said. “Nobody needs a new U2 album unless it’s an extraordinary one. I’m feeling very strong about it.”

Bono then explained that it has “songs for the kitchen, songs for the speedway, the garage [and] songs for every part of your life”, adding: “[There are] songs to make up to, songs to break up to, and U2 makes a very unique sound when we play together. The sound of a room is what we’re going for.”

He also reiterated his previous statements confirming that drummer Larry Mullen Jr. – who had to sit out of the band’s historic Las Vegas Sphere residency due to surgery – has been back in the studio with them.

“Larry’s back from injury,” he shared. “He’s really innovative.”

Bono’s comments about moving on from the past also echo what he said while at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month. “Nostalgia is not to be tolerated for too long, but sometimes you’ve got to deal with the past in order to get to the future and to the present. To get back to now is our desire. Get back to this moment we’re in,” he told Rolling Stone. “It sounds like the future to me… We had to go through some stuff, and we’re at the other end of it.”

Hints about a new album have been circling for years now, and back in 2023, Bono told Zane Lowe that the members had all been busy writing new songs. He shared that guitarist, The Edge, had about “100 in the bag. I have about 20… but [bassist] Adam [Clayton]’s got something to contribute.”

Last November, The Edge also shared more insight into the sound of the forthcoming release, and told Rolling Stone that the project will not be “a straight-up rock thing”. In January, he said new U2 music will start arriving “very soon”.

As well as planning for more music from U2, last November, The Edge also shared that he and Bono are currently working with Brian Eno on “some crazy kind of sci-fi Irish folk music”. 

As to whether that material will be part of U2’s next album, Edge said, “We’re not sure yet, we’ll see,” before expanding: “Part of our kind of process is to go so widely away from, off track, and the sort of the process of bringing things back on track is kind of how you get sort of unique sounding music.”

NME gave Bono:Stories Of Surrender a four-star review, with Damian Jones writing: “Andrew Dominik’s Apple TV+ documentary, shot at New York City’s Beacon Theatre, is billed as a ‘vivid reimagining’ of the show and in many ways it is.”

“For one thing, it’s a lot more intimate with much of the film comprising close-up shots of Bono as he regales the audience with tales of his father, wife, U2 and (unexpectedly) Italian opera legend Pavarotti.”

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