What you don’t want to realise is that you have something in common with Bono. The U2 frontman used to be good at his job but then spent years in the wilderness, covering his own songs and envisioning himself as a faith pastor who occasionally sung of mining towns and the tug-of-war found in relationships. I, too, used to be good at my job but spent the summer months binge-watching television programmes and mending a wrist still riddled with carpal tunnel. U2 are back. He is risen. Silencio is ripped right from the band’s upcoming Carnaval de Luz release, which after two promising EP releases, is a promising continuation of what they have to hand. It sounds as though U2 has remembered what it’s like to engage with new challenges in the studio. Their pioneering days are not over yet, even if it’s been twenty years since they released something of seismic and positive change. Dumping your album onto every iPhone in the world is not innovation. U2 is over the hill in the best way possible, it means stunts like that can’t happen again.
Instead, with Silencio and Carnaval de Luz to a wider extent, we can see what it’s like for U2 to toy with the legacy act situation. They performed songs at their old school together and are likely to play bigger venues next year. For that to occur they need an album worthy of bringing them back onto the stage, and with lead singles like Street of Dreams and follow-up Silencio signalling the return of Bono and friends, it sounds as though they have a collection of songs worth hearing. A sub-three-minute song that has the band feel for a roaring, rock and roll groove. It’s the fundamentals of the genre at play, that’s what U2 needed. A back to the basic’s reassessment of the band where Bono can let that looser wordplay thrive. It’s an intense experience with some of those classic Bono tones found within, where noise is a distraction from the devil.
There’s an alternative rock thrill found in the whisperings of the title track. That makes all the difference right there. Those suggestive and subtle touch-ups from Bono and the rest of the band brings out the very best in the group, something they’ve not tapped into for some time. A short and sweet rocker that serves as an appetising look into what Carnaval de Luz could be. But it’d be all the more interesting if this short burst of rock energy is just to get it out of their system, with Jacknife Lee serving as level-headed producer for this U2 latest. He nails that fine blur of bold Bono proclamations and instrumental stylings that becomes a bit of a Catch-22. U2 are damned if they do innovate, and damned if they don’t, because of how they have chosen to share their work in the past. Not just on iPhones, but covering their own work and presenting that as a new message.
Silencio feels like the first U2 song in a while to profile the skills of Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr. Their additions here are a strong foundation for The Edge to riff away with relative simplicity. But that’s what Silencio needs. It’s a rallying cry, and they can often work better when they sound primitive or plain. It’s the message that matters, and Bono, agree with him or not, is a man who believes his thoughts are worth sharing. They are on Silencio, a song that feels a little Pixies-adjacent with its title repetition and guitar blowout towards the end of the song. U2 sound as though they’re building somewhere special with Silencio and cut it so short it feels more like a tease of what they can do in the future. We can only hope they build on this.
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