U2, because apparently retirement is just a suggestion, has announced their first album of new material in nine years, Carnaval De Luz. This comes as a surprise to no one, as the farewell tour count has officially entered scientific notation. The band’s 16th full-length album is a collection of 12 songs exploring themes of spirituality, friendship, freedom, and endurance in the face of dark, encroaching forces. Because, you know, that’s not something they’ve done before. Nature is healing, and another deluxe edition has appeared, but we’ll get to that later.
The Edge describes the album as “a messy, provocative, sacred collection of songs,” which is just a fancy way of saying they’re still trying to figure out what kind of music they want to make. Bono, on the other hand, promises “loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms, and, yes, some silver tears will make an appearance!” Oh boy, can’t wait for the tears. Somewhere, a record label executive felt a disturbance in the royalties, and it’s probably because they’re planning to release this album in about 17 different formats, including Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl & CD Boxsets, Various Limited Edition Coloured & Bespoke Vinyl variants, Standard CD, Standard Vinyl, and Digital Download. Because who needs simplicity when you can have a dozen different ways to buy the same album?
The Music
The album features collaborations from the likes of Brian Eno, Martin Garrix, and Daniel Lanois, which is just a fancy way of saying they’re trying to stay relevant. There’s a duet with the late, great Dolly Parton, which is actually kind of cool, but let’s be real, it’s also a marketing gimmick. The song, “Torn,” is a tender country song detailing broken family ties, which is a nice change of pace from the usual U2 fare. The album also features a 2-minute, 35-second homage to early surf-punk insolence, because who doesn’t love a good throwback?
The Tracklisting
The tracklisting for Carnaval De Luz is as follows: 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, and Torn (Feat. Dolly Parton). Wow, that’s a lot of titles. It’s like they took every possible song title idea and mashed them all together into one album. Music historians are preparing fresh shelves for the box set, because this thing is going to be a behemoth.
The Release
Carnaval De Luz is set to be released on November 13, 2026, which is just in time for the holiday season. Because what’s more fun than buying a U2 album for your aunt for Christmas? The album will be available in all the aforementioned formats, including a Limited Edition Deluxe Vinyl & CD Boxset, which will probably cost an arm and a leg. A vinyl pressing plant somewhere just burst into tears, thinking about all the extra work they’re going to have to do to press all these different versions. Nobody truly retires in this industry; they merely wait for the 40th anniversary edition. And finally, the remaster economy remains undefeated, because why settle for just one version of an album when you can have five?
Chord F. Discord, the Beethoven of Buffoonery, is a self-taught expert in music who once claimed he could “play the kazoo in four languages.”
Born in Crescendo, Indiana, Chord’s first brush with fame came when he accidentally entered a yodeling contest thinking it was a pie-eating competition—and won both categories.
Chord F. Discord: proving that laughter, much like a poorly tuned ukulele, is truly universal.
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