U2 will release Carnaval de Luz, their first album of new songs in nine years, on Nov. 13, the band announced today. “It’s an extraordinary collection of songs,” bassist Adam Clayton tells Rolling Stone in interviews for an upcoming feature, “and it’s the culmination of the work that everyone has been doing for 50 years.” U2 first played together in Larry Mullen Jr.’s kitchen on Sept. 25, 1976 — 50 years ago this Friday. Bono describes the album as “anarchic,” which is borne out by a just-released new single, the concise, raging punk tune “Silencio.”
The 12-track album, produced by Garret “Jacknife” Lee, who’s been working with U2 since 2004’s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, closes with “Torn,” featuring the final vocal performance from Dolly Parton, who died last month. Longtime U2 collaborator Brian Eno co-wrote and played synths on three tracks, including the opener, “Go (Carnaval de Luz).” Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid co-wrote “Torn” with Parton and the band, Martin Garrix has a writing credit on the track “Glorify,” and Ryan Tedder is credited with additional production on “Silencio.”
The Suicide-influenced opening track is the wildest U2 recording in years. “It’s a statement of intent,” the Edge says. “Whatever you thought you were gonna hear when you put on the new U2 album, you were not expecting this.”
Along with the album, U2 released two surprise EPs this year, Days of Ash and Easter Lily, that turn out to be conceptually linked to the new album via the liturgical calendar, with carnival preceding Lent and Easter. The three projects add up to 24 new songs. “Not in all my time working with bands or artists have I seen anybody work as hard, with so much intensity and joy,” says Lee, who also produced the EPs. “They are having a fucking blast. They are really enjoying each other. That’s the most they’ve ever recorded in any period of their career, and it’s really good work. I would even say up there with their best. It is unprecedented.”
Much of that energy came from Mullen’s return after a debilitating neck injury. “We hadn’t been in a room together in a studio environment for a long time,” he says. “I couldn’t play. I didn’t think I’d play again. So there was a renewed energy when we got into the studio.”
In the press release, Bono plays a carnival barker, appropriately enough: “Roll up, roll up, roll up! Bring your purple socks, your broken hearts, your rose-tinted naivety.… There will be loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms and, yes, some silver tears will make an appearance!”
“The bass, I think, is louder than it’s been on the more recent records,” Clayton says. “It’s always nice to have it up front. And it’s going to be fun to play that live.”
The Edge says the band worked as hard on the album as anything they’ve ever made: “We’re still the same guys we were making our first album. There’s no complacency. There’s just the same old struggle. And it is, in a great way. I think that’s really important, that it isn’t easy. If it ever got easy, I think the music would sound like that.”
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)
Pink Floyd’s Animals