On “Songs of Innocence,” U2’s 13th album and their first in more than five years, the mega-band uses the experiences of their formative years in Dublin as a muse. The choice results in the most focused, energetic and perhaps best album of their 21st-century output.
The album is full of youthful exuberance, taking the songs beyond the arena rock U2 could do in their sleep at this point in their careers. The ambient influences producer Brian Eno injected in 2009’s “No Line on the Horizon” are traded in for the straightforward rock mentality championed by “Innocence” producer Danger Mouse, OneRepublic vocalist Ryan Tedder and frequent Adele collaborator Paul Epworth. The result calls back the sound of 1980s' “Boy” and 1982’s “War,” while also sounding new and fresh for this millennium.
The album opens with “The Miracle (Of Joey Ramone),” in which Bono sings about his first experience hearing the titular rocker sing live. Though on the surface the track seems a carbon copy of U2’s mainstream rock identity which has driven the past 15 years of their career, the song overcomes its awkward title with a clear inspiration. Behind the soaring “ohs” and the sharp production is a story of a young Bono experiencing a life-changing moment. Bono is lost “chasing down the days of fear” in the first verse and the revelatory inspiration comes in the chorus, when he “heard a song that made some sense out of the world.” Though it may not have the catchy riff of “Vertigo” or the release of “Beautiful Day,” its clear story makes for an enriching listen.
Memories of the past also lead to the album’s strongest moment — “Iris (Hold Me Close),” in which Bono reflects on the death of his mother, whom he lost at age 14. The song opens with a siren chant which sounds like a funeral and understandably starts in a place of emotional torment, with Bono confessing “the ache / In my heart / Is so much a part of who I am” before exploding into catharsis in the way only U2 can do: “Hold me close, the darkness just lets us see / Who we are / I’ve got your life inside of me.”
“Raised By Wolves” represents the album’s darkest moment, as well as its most political song. But unlike recent political U2 songs which concern themselves with making broad statements, “Raised By Wolves” continues the contemplative nature of the rest of the album by focusing on the carnage of a car bombing in Dublin which occurred during the band’s teenage years. The song’s menace makes for a memorable moment. U2’s political songs are better when they focus on a direct subject (see 1983’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday”) rather than trying to widen its scope (like with 2004’s “Love and Peace or Else”). “Raised By Wolves” definitely fits well into the former category.
Ryan Tedder’s influence is most strongly felt on “Every Breaking Wave,” a pop song full of sea-faring imagery. “Song for Someone” is a solid love ballad, but it never quite soars to reach the heights of U2 classics like “With or Without You” or “All I Want Is You,” and in an album full of great personal moments, it can be unrewarding to have such a vague, generalized chorus. “Volcano” is propelled by a thick bassline and distorted vocals and “California (There Is No End To Love)” is another solid arena rock song. On this album, it’s clear U2 is clinging to various genre conventions they’ve accrued through decades of immense popularity.
U2 albums tend to end on a weak note, but Lykke Li’s haunting guest vocals and a closing guitar solo from The Edge on “The Troubles” bring the album to a melancholy but satisfying conclusion.
At this stage in their career, U2 really could phone in a record as an excuse to get back on the road. While the mass-release strategy of giving the album to every iTunes customer for free does acknowledge the tour may be in the cards to recoup any losses, “Songs of Innocence” still feels like an artistic statement the band wanted to have heard at all costs. Though its songs may not reach the heights of U2 classics like those on “Achtung Baby” or “The Joshua Tree,” “Songs of Innocence” is definitely an upper-tier U2 album and indicates there may still be some great work to come.
4 stars
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