U2: new album "Carnaval De Luz" announced. Listen to the single "Silencio". The tracklist and guests, from Brian Eno to Dolly Parton

U2 are back with a new album, out November 13 on Island. It will be the Irish band's fifteenth studio effort, titled "Carnaval De Luz". This will be the first full-length collection of original material since "Songs Of Experience", released back in 2017.
Leading the way, on September 24, is "Silencio", the new single that officially opens a recording chapter nine years in the making. Bono has spoken of a renewed creative drive within the band, hinting that the new record won't be a mere nostalgic exercise, but rather another attempt to chart a fresh direction for U2.

The release of "Silencio" also falls on the eve of a particularly significant anniversary: September 25th, 2026 marks fifty years since the band's formation. It was in September 1976 that Larry Mullen Jr., then fourteen years old, put up a notice at his school looking for musicians. The first rehearsals took place in the kitchen of the Mullen family home in Dublin, and from that lineup would emerge the quartet made up of Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. Fifty years on, the four are still together, and choose to mark the anniversary by looking above all to the future. "Silencio" is the first taste of "Carnaval de Luz", the album with which U2 will end their longest wait yet between albums of new songs.

The album and its collaborations

Sonically, "Carnaval De Luz" aims to reconnect with some of U2's more experimental seasons, without giving up rigorous songwriting. Tracks like "The Greatest Show On Earth", "Glorify" and "Midnight Sunshine" bear witness to this, while "Silencio", clocking in at just 2 minutes and 35 seconds, recaptures the almost surf-punk urgency of the Dublin band's early days.
The album's roots trace back to the same creative period that produced "Days Of Ash" and "Easter Lily", the two six-track EPs U2 released as surprises in early 2026. The three works seem to form a kind of journey marked by the liturgical calendar: the Carnival of "Carnaval De Luz", a celebration of the flesh, precedes the renunciation and reflection of Lent, before finally arriving at the rebirth of Easter.

The new U2 album also features a sizeable cast of collaborators. Brian Eno co-writes "Go (Carnaval De Luz)", "The Greatest Show On Earth" and "Can't Stop Us Now" with the band, also contributing synthesizers. Martin Garrix, meanwhile, is among the writers of "Glorify", while Daniel Lanois plays pedal steel on "Torn". That very track features Dolly Parton, in what is being described as her final recorded vocal performance. "Torn", the album's closing track, is also the connecting point with the two EPs. Written by U2 together with Parton herself and Johnny McDaid, "Torn" moves within country coordinates, starting out from a story of broken family ties before widening its meaning to a more universal dimension. Ryan Tedder, finally, handled some of the additional production on "Silencio".

In the words of the protagonists

The Edge describes “Carnaval De Luz” as “a messy, provocative and sacred collection of songs”, also pointing out a technical curiosity: for the first time on a U2 recording, flatwound strings were used. Bono's presentation was more visionary: “Come, come, come! Bring your purple socks, your broken hearts, your innocence seen through rose-tinted lenses… let yourselves be amazed in the hall of mirrors. There'll be noisy guitars, deep basses, ecstatic rhythms and, yes, some silver tears will make an appearance too!”. The singer then ties the album's imagery to a world caught between creativity and its fears at the same time: “Because not far away, just outside our carnival of light, there are creatures of every kind… The same imagination that fuels our creativity can also breed monsters. So we turn up the drums. We light a bigger fire. We make our stories wilder and more fun. We make the melodies sweeter, and the songs have to shine, because if the world is in darkness, we can't be”.
“Carnaval De Luz” will be released in numerous formats, including a limited-edition deluxe box on vinyl and CD, several colored and customized vinyl variants, as well as standard CD and vinyl editions and a digital version.

The tracklist and cover art for "Carnaval De Luz"

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)

The Tour

The tour chapter also remains open, with an announcement expected soon. U2 are said to be ready to return to the stage with a new tour that should kick off in South America before moving on to European stadiums in the summer of 2027, Italy included.
According to reports, the Italian dates should be scheduled for the first half of July and include Milan. This would mark U2's return to Italy nine years after their last shows in 2018.
Meanwhile, as part of the celebrations for the band's 50th anniversary, U2 have also launched their own YouTube channel, with continuous programming of the video clips that have accompanied their career.

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