Irish rock legends’ 16th studio album, described by the Edge as ‘a messy, provocative, sacred collection of songs’, to arrive in November
U2 have officially announced their first album of new material in nearly a decade, entitled Carnaval de Luz, to be released on 13 November.
Closing out the album’s 12 tracks is Torn, the final recorded performance by Dolly Parton, who duets with Bono on a song described in press materials as “a tender country song detailing broken family ties, that holds wider resonances”. Parton died aged 80 on 25 August.
A new single, Silencio, is out now.
In the week that marks 50 years since Larry Mullen Jr. pinned a handwritten note to the noticeboard of Mount Temple Comprehensive School on the Northside of Dublin in September 1976, ‘Drummer Seeks Musicians To Form Band’, comes a body of work that sees Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. still finding new dimensions and possibilities within their creative process.
Carnaval De Luz is a collection of 12 songs exploring themes of spirituality, friendship, freedom and endurance in the face of dark, encroaching forces. (Full track listing below.)
The roots of the new album can be traced directly to the band’s acclaimed six-track EPs of early 2026. Those releases, Days of Ash and Easter Lily, followed the liturgical calendar, and so Carnaval De Luz sits, stands and dances before them in timeline.
The song connecting the album and two EPs is the final track on the new album, ‘Torn’, a duet between Bono and the late, great Dolly Parton, in what has sadly turned out to be her last recorded vocal performance. Co-written by U2, Parton and Johnny McDaid, it’s a tender country song detailing broken family ties that holds wider resonances.
Listen to ‘Silencio‘.
Carnaval De Luz will be available in formats including: Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl & CD Boxsets, Various Limited Edition Coloured & Bespoke Vinyl variants, Standard CD, Standard Vinyl, Digital Download.
Track listing for Carnaval De Luz.
1. Go (Carnaval De Luz)
2. La Reina
3. Street Of Dreams
4. The Mirror Maker (Rosalía)
5. Superficiality
6. If The World Is At War We Better Not Be
7. Silencio
8. The Greatest Show On Earth
9. Glorify
10. Midnight Sunshine
11. Can’t Stop Us Now
12. Torn (Feat. Dolly Parton)