{"id":610477,"date":"2026-09-24T16:52:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T16:52:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/610477\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T16:52:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T16:52:21","slug":"new-u2-album-2026-carnaval-de-luz-is-out-nov-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/610477\/","title":{"rendered":"New U2 Album 2026: ‘Carnaval De Luz’ Is Out Nov. 13"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tU2<\/a> will release Carnaval de Luz, their first album of new songs in nine years, on Nov. 13, the band announced today. \u201cIt\u2019s an extraordinary collection of songs,\u201d bassist Adam Clayton<\/a> tells Rolling Stone in interviews for an upcoming feature, \u201cand it\u2019s the culmination of the work that everyone has been doing for 50 years.\u201d U2 first played together in Larry Mullen<\/a> Jr.\u2019s kitchen on Sept. 25, 1976 \u2014\u00a050 years ago this Friday. Bono<\/a> describes the album as \u201canarchic,\u201d which is borne out by a just-released new single, the concise, raging punk tune \u201cSilencio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 12-track album, produced by Garret \u201cJacknife\u201d Lee, who\u2019s been working with U2 since 2004\u2019s How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb, closes with \u201cTorn,\u201d 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, \u201cGo (Carnaval de Luz).\u201d Snow Patrol\u2019s Johnny McDaid co-wrote \u201cTorn\u201d with Parton and the band, Martin Garrix has a writing credit on the track \u201cGlorify,\u201d and Ryan Tedder is credited with additional production on \u201cSilencio.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Suicide-influenced opening track is the wildest U2 recording in years. \u201cIt\u2019s a statement of intent,\u201d the Edge<\/a> says. \u201cWhatever you thought you were gonna hear when you put on the new U2 album, you were not expecting this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlong with the album, U2 released two surprise EPs this year, Days of Ash<\/a> and Easter Lily<\/a>, 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.\u00a0\u201cNot in all my time working with bands or artists have I seen anybody work as hard, with so much intensity and joy,\u201d says Lee, who also produced the EPs. \u201cThey are having a fucking blast. They are really enjoying each other. That\u2019s the most they\u2019ve ever recorded in any period of their career, and it\u2019s really good work. I would even say up there with their best. It is unprecedented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\tMuch of that energy came from Mullen\u2019s return after a debilitating neck injury. \u201cWe hadn\u2019t been in a room together in a studio environment for a long time,\u201d he says. \u201cI couldn\u2019t play. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d play again. So there was a renewed energy when we got into the studio.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the press release, Bono plays a carnival barker, appropriately enough: \u201cRoll up, roll up, roll up! Bring your purple socks, your broken hearts, your rose-tinted naivety.\u2026 There will be loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms and, yes, some silver tears will make an appearance!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe bass, I think, is louder than it\u2019s been on the more recent records,\u201d Clayton says. \u201cIt\u2019s always nice to have it up front. And it\u2019s going to be fun to play that live.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Edge says the band worked as hard on the album as anything they\u2019ve ever made: \u201cWe\u2019re still the same guys we were making our first album. There\u2019s no complacency. There\u2019s just the same old struggle. And it is, in a great way. I think that\u2019s really important, that it isn\u2019t easy. If it ever got easy, I think the music would sound like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCarnaval de Luz tracklist:
\u201cGo (Carnaval de Luz)\u201d
\u201cLa Reina\u201d
\u201cStreet of Dreams\u201d
\u201cThe Mirror Maker (Rosal\u00eda)\u201d
\u201cSuperficiality\u201d
\u201cIf the World Is at War We Better Not Be\u201d
\u201cSilencio\u201d
\u201cThe Greatest Show on Earth\u201d
\u201cGlorify\u201d
\u201cMidnight Sunshine\u201d
\u201cCan\u2019t Stop Us Now\u201d
\u201cTorn\u201d (feat. Dolly Parton)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U2 will release Carnaval de Luz, their first album of new songs in nine years, on Nov. 13,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[300851,57991,156,300852,157,111,139,69,60744,4931],"class_list":["post-610477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-adam-clayton","tag-bono","tag-entertainment","tag-larry-mullen","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-the-edge","tag-u2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}