I appreciate your efforts in trying to convince us; at least you're naming actual instances, and I can see where you're coming from.
However, as a man who values quite a bit of experimental music, I can't say I find any of these tracks all that innovative, save for maybe Unknown Caller because of the music matching the concept, but even then I think they undercut the risk by, quite honestly and despite the chanted vocals and french horn (or whatever it is) making it sound just as much like classic U2 as Crazy Tonight.
On the title track I hear a band totally refreshed; I guess you can say its a band innovating, but I don't think its enough of a leap for us to be using the words "innovate" or "experiment."
MOS is a gospel song, and its different for U2, but once again I wouldn't say its especially innovative. A classic song perhaps, a beautiful song with a great groove, not quite like anything else U2 has done, crisp and refreshing, but by my definition of the word and lofty standards for the band, not especially innovative. I've acknowledged that the song takes slight risks, and is somewhat unique in the band's canon, but I still can't use the word "innovative." "Inventive," perhaps, is more like it.
Take that other Brian Eno produced album from last year - no, not Coldplay's Viva la Vida, but David Byrne/Eno's follow-up to My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. I wouldn't call that album innovative, even though I think its a better album than NLOTH as well as a far riskier one with far more invention and even, in "Strange Overtones", a better single, which is similar to "Moment of Surrender" in the grooves and lulling, chantlike nature of the chorus. But I'm not calling that innovative even though I think its better and fresher, so I can't possibly call MOS innovative, even if its more of a stetch for U2. I judge the band on what they could be doing, and this is based on them still having a shot at being the world's greatest rock and roll band, so I must judge them against what all others are doing. Just because U2 hasn't done it, doesn't make it innovative; if they made an all out hip-hop album that sounded just like 50 Cent's last one to the last drop, that wouldn't make it innovative in the grand scheme of things, it would just make it different for the band. Of course, we all know if they made a hip-hop album it would probably not sound anything like that and would actually be innovative. Point is, with NLOTH they haven't moved far enough from their comfort zone for me to call it innovative.
For NLOTH-the album the best I can say and have said is "at least they're trying." But I don't think it added up to anything worth talking about like its experimental or innovative. Perhaps its because the album doesn't truly gel for me - too many styles without a unifying link. Cedars, to me, remains the freshest track on the album, and one that I'd definitely label "inventive," though still not "innovative."