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Irish superstars U2 have announced details of their 16th album. Carnaval de Luz, the follow-up to 2023’s Songs Of Surrender will be released on November 15, and is preceded by the second single from the album, Silencio. The first single from the album, Street Of Dreams, arrived in July.
Guitarist The Edge describes Carnaval de Luz as “a messy, provocative, sacred collection of songs”, while frontman Bono promises listeners will enjoy “loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms.”
The singer goes on to say, “The same imagination that brings us our creativity can also bring us monsters. So we make the drums louder. We build a bigger fire. We make our stories wilder and funnier. We make the melodies sweeter and the songs, they better shine, because if the world is in darkness, we better not be.”
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Carnaval de Luz features contributions from U2’s most celebrated production team, Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois, who worked on the albums that turned the quartet into international stars – 1984’s The Unforgettable Fire and 1987’s The Joshua Tree – as well as Achtung Baby (1991). The album also includes Torn, the final song to feature vocals by late country legend Dolly Parton, who died last month.
“When she got ill, she got out of her bed to sing this song,” Bono tells Rolling Stone. “And you can hear that. And I can’t even listen to it now. She sang her heart out, and I cannot believe that’s an 80-year-old woman.”
“She was so proud of her vocal and the recording,” says producer Garret “Jacknife” Lee. “She was thrilled with it. We were very nervous that she might not approve, or would be uncomfortable with it, but she loved it.”
Carnaval de Luz is available to pre-order now.
U2: Carnaval de Luz tracklist
Go (Carnaval De Luz)
La Reina
Street Of Dreams
The Mirror Maker (Rosalía)
Superficiality
If The World Is At War We Better Not Be
Silencio
The Greatest Show On Earth
Glorify
Midnight Sunshine
Can’t Stop Us Now
Torn (Feat. Dolly Parton)
