'A Groove Thing'

The Edge welcomes multi-instrumentalist musician Lenny Kravitz to the latest episode of his Sirius XM series Close to the Edge on U2X, as they talk about origin stories, creative influences, and the whimsy of discovery in the studio. 
 
'When you start the process of working on a new song, a new album, what's the first inspiration for you? Is it a lyric thing? Is it a groove thing? Is it a guitar part?' Edge asks. 
 
'Even if I don't have the words, I'll go and do a scat track', Kravitz says. 'I'll go in there and just blah, blah, you know—get the melody down. And then I just continue to listen, write the lyric, go back, sing it with the proper lyric'.
 
Lyrics often follow music for U2 explains Edge. 'Is it a process that sometimes throws you a surprise?'
 
'Oh yeah', Kravitz says. 'Recently I heard a song in my head that was basically a bossa nova. And I spent a week trying to make it not a bossa nova because I wasn't listening to what I was being given….I'm just an antenna. I'm just here to pick up what is being sent to me'.

'That first instinct is so often the best', Edge continues. 'We've had a great demo and thought, this is very close, but we may need to make a few small adjustments. And next thing it's turned into something completely different. And we finish that version and then we go back to the very first demo and we go, “Oh my God, it's better”'. 

Edge mentions that U2 are 'locked in the proverbial tower of song working on tunes' for a new album.

'It's going great—slower than we would've wanted…we hope it'll be out some time around 2037-2038.'