LimeWire Music Blog

U2 just released their latest album, No Line on the Horizon, this Tuesday. I’ve made my feelings about the release perfectly clear, but I come bearing news today, not bile. According to The Guardian and Bono himself, the band will be releasing a follow-up record later in the year, tentatively entitled Songs of Ascent.    

The record, which will be preceded by lead-off single “Every Breaking Wave,” is touted as the companion piece to No Line on the Horizon. According to Bono, this release is to be considered a “sister record,” recalling the familiar sonic threads of both Achtung Baby and Zooropa. Bono also had this to say on the matter:

“We’re making a kind of heartbreaker, a meditative, reflective piece of work, but not indulgent. It will all have a clear mood, like Miles Davis album Kind Or Blue. Or [John Coltrane song] “A Love Supreme” would be a point of reference, for the space it occupies in people’s lives, which is to say, with that album, I almost take my shoes off to listen to it.”

Now, despite the rather disjointed quote above, I admit I am curious about this new record. Even though I never care to hear No Line on the Horizon ever again, I can’t help but wonder if this new record will deliver on all the promises made before its release, exploring a more experimental and far less “safe” territory, even if it’ll be a quieter affair.  If past experiences are of any indication, I tend to prefer quick follow up records as much as, if not more than their previous releases. Radiohead’s Amnesiac comes to mind (and is probably my favorite record of theirs to date, blasphemy be damned), and I tend to prefer Bowie’s Aladdin Sane far more than The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. I can even say (with confidence) that the aforementioned Zooropa is every bit as enjoyable as Achtung Baby. So I’ve got a slight glimmer of hope for this record, but as with any and all U2 activity in the new millennium, I will prepare myself for the worst. 

Image via U2.com