U2’s Songs of Innocence Forget the hype: what about the music?

Amidst all the publicity around the U2 release, the actual songs were almost ignored. Ed Power has a proper listen

AMID the hype over U2’s new album, Songs Of Innocence, and the peculiar manner it was released — dispatched for free to 500m iTunes account — its merits could easily be overlooked. Which is a shame, as it marks a more than respectable return to form for the band — and is arguably their most complete LP since the ’90s.

Above all, Songs Of Innocence benefits from U2’s lurch toward a kitchen-sink production style. Every note and quaver is turtle-waxed within a centimetre of its existence; each tune announcing itself with confidence and aplomb. And though the album is bracingly lacking in subtly, the boisterousness will ensure you’ll listen. And after my first listen, I felt Songs of Innocence amounted to a spectacularly good day at the office for Bono and co. The dazzle does fade after repeated encounters — still, if you’ve received this record free via your laptop or iPhone, it is undoubtedly worth your time.

Along with the cheerful bombast, Songs Of Innocence is deeply personal. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bono said the lyrics draw heavily on his childhood in Dublin. This is apparent on ‘Cedarwood Road’, a big-hearted valentine to the Glasnevin street where the singer grew up. On the rollicking opening track, ‘The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone)’, meanwhile, he sings about a 1978 concert at which he saw the New York punks, and which altered his relationship with music forever.

The death of the frontman’s mother — suddenly when Bono was 14 — is addressed on ‘Iris (Hold Me Close’); ‘Raised By Wolves’ contemplates the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974, which, Bono sings, he escaped by a whisker (he’d planned visiting his favourite record store on Talbot Street, changing his mind at the last moment).

Sonically, the group are very much looking to the future. Single-in-waiting ‘Volcano’ skips on a glimmering groove; ‘Sleep Like A Baby Tonight’ is a synth-pop excursion that suggests the band were paying attention to recent electro forays by Coldplay and Snow Patrol.

The record closes with the sinuous, trip-hoppy ‘The Troubles’, Bono’s croak interwoven with lulling backing vocals from Swedish singer, Lykke Li.

As is well-known, Songs Of Innocence had a troubled history. U2 were set to unleash it in March, having unveiled the single, ‘Invisible’, at the Superbowl. Behind the scenes, though, elements in the camp were queasy about the experimental sound. Collaborating with producer, Danger Mouse, U2 had, by every account, created their most esoteric body of work since the early ’90s.

Well and good, so far as it went — yet some wondered whether a weird and woozy LP would serve as an appropriate springboard for the vast world tour U2 will surely announce in the coming months.

So it was back to the drafting board. Super-producers, Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic), and Paul Epworth (Adele, and Florence and the Machine), were brought in to imbue the material with additional oomph — the very quality No Line On The Horizon (commercially U2’s least successful LP ever, lacked).

Nearly 40 years into their career, U2 are transforming into their own covers band. There is no shame in that — it happens to all groups (apart, arguably, from REM, who broke up when they sensed what they were about to become). And, as a collection of U2-sounding tracks, written and performed by U2, Songs Of Innocence will surely please fans: there’s lots of anthemic guitar from Edge; reams of Bono’s patented woah-oh-oh-ing (so what if he occasionally comes over like a grizzled Chris Martin? Coldplay would not exist without U2).

Let’s not overstate matters. U2 will never be as vital or as interesting as in the ’80s and early ’90s — having made one classic album, Achtung Baby, they are unlikely to gift us another. However, by the measure of their post-2000s material, Songs of Innocence is perfectly respectable, an LP that can stand tall alongside their finest output. Also, it’s free — so cease moaning and give it a whirl.