U2 Wraps Up In New York City

Bono / The Edge / U2 / JKS Photography

U2 have been in New York this past week working on their upcoming album at Electric Lady Studios, which was built opened in Greenwich Village by Jimi Hendrix in 1968.

Band members have been spotted there with producer Danger Mouse, reportedly mixing the disc. On Friday afternoon, all four members were on the roof of the studio doing an acoustic version of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” for a camera crew. Also spotted at the studio was Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.

On Friday night, Bono and The Edge played a private show at a party in New York’s SoHo neighborhood.

Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records and the man who signed U2, has heard the new album and calls it “better than ever.”

From all reports everythingis pretty wrapped up now and quiet again in New York. Bono was spotted out dinning with Danger Mouse and again spotted walking around New York City on Sunday.

U2 Mixing New Album In NYC

The Edge, Adam, Bono

U2 have finished recording their new album, the follow-up to 2009′s No Line On The Horizon, and are currently mixing in New York City with producer Danger Mouse, according to reports, after three members of the band were spotted in NYC, most notably Bono outside Electric Lady Studios.

U2 are saying that recording of the new album is done and dusted, with a playback happening last week. Tweets from Island Records head Chris Blackwell( posted earlier) seem to confirm this, with the honcho saying “Listened to some new music at Electric Lady Land studios earlier with U2 and Danger Mouse #betterthanever”. Blackwell has since deleted the tweet. ( Yea wonder why )

Globe journo Brad Wheeler added fuel to the fire, sharing quotes from former Daniel Lanois, who produced The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby amongst other U2 records. Lanois seems to have sat out of production duties this time around but has heard the new material, with Wheeler tweeting “Lanois tells me Bono dropped by his house in LA and that the new U2 album sounds ‘amazing’ and ‘big’, with some Achtung Baby adventurism”.

Sounds pretty promising, considering Bono confirmed that band were working on lucky album number 13 back in January, but the frontman also warned us not to hold our breath, stating that the band didn’t care if it took 10 years to get the album right.

Clayton,Hewson and Danger Mouse

Adam and Ali have given us some insight to the future of U2 and its “sounding great” Adam stated in Spinner that the boys are in fact working with Danger Mouse. "It's a great team and feels very liberating at the moment -- anything goes. We have an abundance of riches, we could make three or four different records and justify that to ourselves, but to make the best record you can, you have to steer away from the ones you can make easily. We are really trying to get into territory that we are not comfortable in. If that makes sense..." Ali Hewson also shared some information on the record in an interview with The Guardian. "They're well down the road on the new album and it sounds good," Hewson said. "That's all I'm saying.

And that’s all we are saying too…..

U2 Insider "It sounds quite different"

U2 has been working on their new album and the record company claims 2013 *( oops they let that dog slip out) Anyway the boys have been working with a number of producers such as Danger Mouse, Will.I.AM which of course would lead us to believe that the boys will have a different sound. Gavin Friday said on an interview with RTE Radio One’s Weekend On One program this past weekend. “I’ve heard a bit of it… Its quite different.  Backing the claims that Bono said earlier

"We've had the best three weeks in the studio since 1979. I think they [the other band members] are very aware that U2 have to do something very special to have a reason to exist right now," he said.

U2's New Album 'Happening So Easily'

Bono has revealed that Danger Mouse has been working on U2’s new album, one of three currently in the pipeline.

As previously reported by Spinner, band manager Paul McGuinness believes the record, tentatively titled ‘Songs of Ascent,’ will hit the shelves early next year.

Now, in an interview with The Age, the outspoken frontman has filled in a few more gaps surrounding U2’s forthcoming release and their work with Danger Mouse. Bono said, “We have about 12 songs with him. At the moment that looks like the album we will put out next because it’s just happening so easily.”

The album most likely to follow ‘Songs of Ascent’ sees the band adopting a “club” style and features collaborations with Lady Gaga associate Red One, Black Eyed Peas’ Will.i.am and French DJ/producer David Guetta.

Bono explained the thinking behind the record. “U2’s remixes in the 1990s were a real treasure, so we wanted to make a club sounding record. We have a pile of songs.”

The third project is a concept album based on songs Bono and the Edge wrote for the new Spider-Man musical, due to open on Broadway next month. However the two still have to win over the other half of the band on the merits of the project, “We haven’t convinced the rest of the band to do that yet. Larry (drummer and founding member Larry Mullen, Jr.) definitely has a raised eyebrow” said Bono.