U2's new album Songs of Innocence has been widely consumed since Apple transmitted the digital version into hundreds of millions of accounts on Sept. 9, and the band has successfully thrust itself back into mainstream music conversations.
But the swift process of releasing the record directly contrasted the creation process, which took four years.
Bono, The Edge and their cohorts began work with producer Danger Mouse in 2010.
"The experiments and excursions we took with Danger Mouse at the start of the album recording were unashamedly unhinged and free of all critical judgement," The Edge told Rolling Stone. "We were happy to suspend disbelief just to see where we could get to. Those early sessions were some of the most productive and fun U2 studio sessions I can remember."
The group ultimately recorded about 100 different songs.
"We had great fun getting lost in the creative process," Bono said. "The thing that propelled us to reach deeper and aim higher was a new appreciation of the craft of songwriting."
But the early material was not ready for consumption
"We realized that some tunes are just better than others, some lyrics just more coherent, some soundscapes just more compelling," Bono said. "We found ourselves bored with material that just felt good or unique."
Said Edge: "At a certain point, as the songs were coming into focus, we could see that certain qualities, hallmarks of our work where not represented," he says. "This meant we needed to go off and write some new songs and rework a few that were almost finished."
But four years of recording sessions mean that a follow-up album will be coming soon. Songs of Experience even has a title already.
"Early on it became obvious that we were working on two separate albums," The Edge said. "The majority of the unfinished songs are worthy of becoming part of Songs of Experience and some are already as good or better then anything on Songs of Innocence. The Songs of Experience album will be released when it's ready. I hope it won't take nearly as long."
Plus, if there's one thing U2 still excels at, it's touring. And they've got one of those coming up, too.
"The tour is still in the planning stage so it's too early to describe what it will be like," says the Edge. "I think we will start small. We certainly can't get any bigger then the last tour."
