The heavyweight act is back in action. It has been almost nine years since U2 released Songs Of Experience, their last studio collection of new material. This fall, around the band’s 50th anniversary, they will drop a new LP titled Carnaval de Luz. The most noticeable detail about it is that Bono appears on the cover sporting a top hat.
This year, U2 unveiled the surprise EPs Days Of Ash and Easter Lily, in addition to the Martin Garrix collaboration “Fireflies” and a cover of the Pogues’ “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.” Carnaval de Luz was tracked with producer Jackknife Lee, who has been at the helm of their most recent records. Brian Eno contributed keyboards on three tracks, and Daniel Lanois laid down pedal steel on one, which makes me wonder why they didn’t invite Eno and Lanois back as producers.
The track featuring Daniel Lanois’ pedal steel is “Torn,” which contains Dolly Parton’s final vocal performance. U2 co-wrote that song with Parton and Snow Patrol member Johnny McDaid, who has collaborated with Ed Sheeran. “Street Of Dreams,” the single U2 released in July, is included on the album. There is also a song named “The Mirror Maker (Rosalía),” which does not actually feature Rosalía and which briefly caused a moment of confusion for our Stereogum crew.
Here’s a statement from Bono:
Roll up, roll up, roll up! Bring your purple socks, your broken hearts, your rose-tinted naivety… oh be amazed in the hall of mirrors. There will be loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms and, yes, some silver tears will make an appearance!
‘Cause in the near distance just outside our carnival of light there are all kinds of creatures… 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.
The Edge notes that the record “features the first-ever use of flat-wound strings on a U2 recording,” so keep an ear out for that detail.
A press release describes lead single “Silencio” as a “2mins 35second homage to early surf-punk insolence,” but it doesn’t really come across that way to me. It mostly sounds like a late-period U2 track. Ryan Tedder contributed additional production on it. In the Cliqua-directed video, Bono sheds the top hat and borrows Edge’s cowboy hat instead. In fact, Bono likely owns his own cowboy hat. He might even own several of them. All four members of U2 probably have generous cowboy hat budgets. Either way, that’s a side note.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Go (Carnaval De Luz)”
02 “La Reina”
03 “Street Of Dreams”
04 “The Mirror Maker (Rosalía)”
05 “Superficiality”
06 “If The World Is At War We Better Not Be”
07 “Silencio”
08 “The Greatest Show On Earth”
09 “Glorify”
10 “Midnight Sunshine”
11 “Can’t Stop Us Now”
12 “Torn” (Feat. Dolly Parton)
Carnaval de Luz is scheduled for release on 11/13 via Island. Pre-order it here.
