JamietheEdgefan
Refugee
seems to be
I'm willing to bet it'll sound sonically different from the last couple records. I believe them.
that said, I'm guessing the work with Eno is largely a revisit of tunes they've worked on for years now. Probably stretching back to NLOTH era - songs they had identified for Songs of Ascent at one time. Only brought back into the light to be rerecorded, rethought. Probably bringing in some of the Irish musicians they've worked with along with way, like those in the letterman Disney doc.
If it does turn out as you predict, picking up material from the NLOTH era that was planned for Songs of Ascent at the time, and working with Eno once again, then the next album could essentially be Songs of Ascent, albeit probably under a different name (Bono said the ‘songs of’ era is over). Maybe ‘Pilgrims Lack of Progress’ (a NLOTH outtake rumoured for SoA, and also the working title for ‘Stories of Surrender’, so clearly still on Bono’s mind).
Edge did actually namedrop the Irish folk musicians they’ve been working with (at least as of last autumn, I imagine the list could have grown/changed since then): Cormac Begley, Colm Mac Con Iomaire, and Dermot Sheedy. They all have stuff on instagram if anyone’s curious as to what instruments they play/what kind of music they make.
Here’s a track by Colm Mac Con Iomaire, an atmospheric, cinematic piano piece with some beautiful strings woven in. Worth a listen on its own I reckon, but could be a possible window into some of the sounds we might get on the next album: