- September 26, 2026
- 07:30 PM
Bingkai Karya – Island Records announces the release of ‘Carnaval De Luz’, U2’s 16th studio album and the band’s first album of new material in nine years, arriving on November 13, 2026. The announcement comes with ‘Silencio’, a new track available now alongside its official music video directed by Mexican-American directing duo Cliqua.
The album brings together Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. during the band’s 50th year. Its arrival also marks a significant point in U2’s continuing creative journey, nearly five decades after the band’s formation began with a handwritten notice posted at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin in 1976.
Recorded across multiple locations and produced by Jacknife Lee, ‘Carnaval De Luz’ features 12 songs that explore themes of spirituality, friendship, freedom and endurance in the face of encroaching darkness. The album combines echoes of U2’s experimental work with tightly structured songwriting, including tracks such as ‘The Greatest Show On Earth’, ‘Glorify’ and ‘Midnight Sunshine’.
The album also continues the creative thread established through U2’s two surprise-released six-track EPs from early 2026, ‘Days of Ash’ and ‘Easter Lily’, which were recorded during the same creative period. Connecting those releases to the new album is ‘Torn’, the closing track on ‘Carnaval De Luz’, featuring Bono in a duet with the late Dolly Parton. Co-written by U2, Parton and Johnny McDaid, the tender country song reflects on broken family ties.
‘Carnaval De Luz’ expands U2’s collaborative circle with contributions from Brian Eno, Martin Garrix and Daniel Lanois, while Ryan Tedder provides additional production on ‘Silencio’. The album’s lead track also introduces a distinct musical detail for the band, with The Edge describing the collection as a “messy, provocative, sacred” body of songs and noting U2’s first use of flat-wound strings on a recording.
For Bono, the album embraces both celebration and darkness. His vision of louder drums, bigger fires, wilder stories and sweeter melodies reflects the record’s central tension between creativity and the forces surrounding it.
The music video for ‘Silencio’ was filmed in Mexico City earlier this year and directed by Cliqua, formed by Pasqual Gutiérrez and Raúl “RJ” Sanchez. The track follows ‘Street of Dreams’, released in July as the first song taken from the new album.
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