U2’s New Album Includes Dolly Parton’s Last Recorded Vocal Performance

U2 detailed their first full-length studio album of new material in nine years, Carnaval De Luz, arriving on November 13 through Interscope Records. The LP contains Dolly Parton‘s final-recorded vocal performance and is previewed today with the single “Silencio.”

Dolly Parton, who passed away on August 25, lent her iconic voice to the final track on Carnaval De Luz, “Torn.” Written by U2, Parton and Johnny McDaid, “Torn” is a duet between Dolly and U2 frontman Bono, and is “a tender country song detailing broken family ties that holds wider resonances,” as per press materials for the album.

Carnaval De Luz arrives as U2 celebrates 50 years since drummer Larry Mullen Jr. slapped a handwritten note on the noticeboard at Dublin’s Mount Temple Comprehensive School that read: “Drummer Seeks Musicians To Form Band.”

Produced by Jacknife Lee, Carnaval De Luz follows U2’s 2026 EPs, Days of Ash and Easter Lily, which arrived earlier this year. Chronologically, the records dance around the Christian liturgical calendar, with the EPs representing the reflection of Lent and rebirth of Easter while Carnaval De Luz arrives as a celebration.

Bono stepped into the role of carnival barker to detail the new U2 album:

“Roll up, roll up, roll up! Bring your purple socks, your broken hearts, your rose-tinted naivety… oh be amazed in the hall of mirrors. There will be loud guitars, deep bass, some ecstatic rhythms and, yes, some silver tears will make an appearance!

“‘Cause in the near distance just outside our carnival of light there are all kinds of creatures… the same imagination that brings us our creativity can also bring us monsters. So we make the drums louder. We build a bigger fire. We make our stories wilder and funnier. We make the melodies sweeter and the songs, they better shine, because if the world is in darkness we better not be.”

The 12-track record sees contributions from Brian Eno — co-writing and synth on “Go (Carnaval De Luz),” “The Greatest Show on Earth” and “Can’t Stop Us Now” — Martin Garrix (co-writing on “Glorify”) and Daniel Lanois (pedal steel on “Torn”).

Ryan Tedder provides additional production on today’s single, “Silencio,” which follows previously released Carnaval De Luz cut “Street Of Dreams.” Cliqua, the Mexican-American directing duo of Pasqual Gutiérrez and Raúl “RJ” Sanchez, helmed the Mexico City-shot music video arriving with “Silencio.” Watch below:

Carnaval De Luz Tracklist:

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)