Initially, Songs Of Experience was planned to be out sooner but was delayed until the US presidential election
June 1, 2017
Though there is no definite timeline for U2’s the next album, Songs Of Experience, the follow-up to Songs Of Innocence, the band’s frontman Bono has revealed he would ‘like’ to release the new record at the dawn of 2018 and posted an update on the progress with the recording.
U2 had been planning to drop Songs Of Experience sooner but the release was put to wait until the US presidential election results to have stronger impact and also to see if the songs still send the message intended. The band went on a 30th anniversary tour instead, celebrating their fifth 1987′ successful studio record, The Joshua Tree, which U2 played in its entirety.
As to the process of work on the upcoming album, Songs Of Experience, Bono told Rolling Stone:
“The band will tell you not to listen to me on those kind of matters since I thought it was done last year. But I think the pause has made it better,” the frontman admitted. “But we have these songs. The problem is we have 15 songs and to get them down to 12. We don’t like long players. The actual tracklisting is not set yet, but we have some proper, proper fuck-off songs. ‘Little Things That Give You Away’ is one of them.”
Curiously enough, Bono added that he’d “like” to release the record Songs Of Experience before “early 2018”, as the interviewer did his best to reel in at least a potential release date. But then Bono quickly added: “Don’t listen to me” – obviously to not fire up a massive media fuss. Here is a small exerpt from the interview:
[quote align=”center” color=”#COLOR_CODE”]Rolling Stone: You’re thinking early 2018 if you had to guess?
Bono: I’d like it before then, but don’t listen to me.[/quote]
Do you think it was simply Bono’s hope to release the new album by the end of this year? What sound do you expect to hear on Songs Of Experience? Share your thoughts in the comments, and join AlteRock Facebook and Twitter to stay tuned for rock and metal news.