Somebody Stepped Inside Your Soul

U2 featuring Lykke Li “The Troubles”

I can’t help but wonder what the response to U2’s new album would’ve been like if they had gone with a traditional release with relatively little fanfare. I know they wouldn’t ever want to do that, but I think this record would’ve been far better received if they undersold it, and were just like “hey, we made a kinda personal record about our youth, check it out or not.” It’s more or less impossible for U2 to reclaim the center of pop music now, and it’s just embarrassing to watch them try, but reinventing themselves as humble artists would’ve at least put the press on their side. They could’ve come up with a narrative for themselves that would’ve adjusted expectations in a way that didn’t set themselves up for failure.

You can see just how much they screwed themselves with this “force themselves into everyone’s iTunes library” strategy just in how every discussion of the record is almost entirely about that. And you know, that’s not because writers aren’t listening to the music – it’s because this gambit is just drastically more interesting than any of the songs on this album. A low key release would’ve at least put the focus on what’s actually going on with Songs of Innocence – it’s by far the most autobiographical record in their discography, and it’s a focused attempt to reconnect with the sound of their first two albums.

Yes, there’s some parts of songs that are clearly meant to emulate acts like The Black Keys, Coldplay, and Mumford & Sons, and that is a rather transparent bid to get radio play, but for the most part it’s an extremely regressive record. I can’t help but feel that part of the reason they are cycling back to their earliest work is because they are running on fumes in terms of writing strong melodies, and so it makes sense to go back to the more vibe-centric sound they had before they really had a solid grasp on songwriting. But I think it’s also a classic strategy where people who are having trouble creating try to reconnect with what inspired them in the first place. This record is basically a concept album about that notion.

This album is disappointing for me in that it’s the first time in their career they’ve released a record and I don’t love at least one track. No Line on the Horizon is probably a worse album, but I really like that title track a lot, and “Magnificent” and “Breathe” are fine by me. This album doesn’t really embarrass, but it doesn’t inspire either. There’s some cringe-y stuff, but for the most part it’s just kinda…competent. When they aren’t trying to pull “please put us on the radio moves,” I mainly just think “oh, I get what you’re going for.” I suppose “The Troubles” is my favorite track – Lykke Li’s vocal part is the most memorable hook on the entire album, and musically it’s a cousin to “One” and “Wake Up Dead Man” and those are both amazing songs. “The Troubles” doesn’t quite measure up, but I feel like this is the sort of music I’d want a 50something U2 to make – dark, mature, contemplative. It’s beautiful and moving in a very relaxed way, and feels quietly confident. This isn’t that hard for them to do, they just need to learn that this mode suits them, and is probably what most people want them to be now. I think at this point, most U2 fans would settle for them not acting like old guys who want to party with people half their age.

This album is already in your iTunes library. I wrote more about this record over at BuzzFeed.