Fifty years into their run, U2 are steering their next studio album directly toward independent record counters with the help of Jack White. The group has teamed up with White's Third Man Records for an exclusive vinyl pressing of their forthcoming LP, Carnaval De Luz, scheduled to land in shops on November 13. The limited pressing is being produced strictly for independent sellers, dressed in the distinct yellow and black styling that has long identified White's operation.
Jack White founded Third Man Records in Detroit back in 2001, eventually establishing a permanent headquarters and storefront in Nashville in 2009. The business has since grown to include three retail locations, including an outpost across the Atlantic in London, with the overwhelming balance of its catalog pressed, printed, and recorded directly in Detroit under White's watch. This collaborative variant represents the first time U2 and White have linked up for a physical album release, though their creative ties go back more than a decade. White previously contributed an interpretation of Love Is Blindness to the twentieth anniversary reissue of Achtung Baby in 2011. For the presentation of Carnaval De Luz, visual duties fell to longtime U2 collaborator Gavin Friday, who handled creative direction in tandem with art director and designer Shaughn McGrath and the in-house Third Man team.
Musically, Carnaval De Luz features twelve tracks helmed by producer Jacknife Lee, with the band describing the results as messy, sacred, and provocative. The Edge hinted at this unconventional path in 2024, noting that the musicians were consciously turning away from a standard rock approach. Bono shared a similar sentiment regarding the sessions, explaining that the quartet wrote twenty-five pieces in an effort to push beyond their own history and construct the sound of the future. The arrival of the full-length follows two separate six-song collections, Days Of Ash and Easter Lily, both issued earlier this year.
U2 offered a public preview of the upcoming material during a series of surprise appearances across Dublin last week, airing lead single Silencio. The band took to a cafe balcony, stopped by their old high school, and hosted an advance playback of four album cuts at McGonagles, the Dublin venue that hosted some of their formative gigs during the late 1970s. Among the twelve songs on the final tracklist is Torn, which includes the last recorded vocal performance by Dolly Parton. The album also features a tribute track dedicated to Rosalía, whom the band praised as an extraordinary artist.
The release of the record comes as U2 prepares to transition back to stadium stages. Those upcoming performances follow their high-profile run at the Las Vegas Sphere, where the band launched a residency in September 2023. Rehearsals for the new tour are currently taking place with founding drummer Larry Mullen Jr. back behind the kit, having stepped away from the stage temporarily to recover from surgery.
