Just in time for Super Bowl Sunday, U2 have returned with a new song – the first track off their upcoming 13th studio album. Because when you think football, of course you think of U2. Right?
Not really. Bono and the boys have chosen the Big Game as a piggybacking means for capturing the nation’s attention for a first listen of “Invisible,” a surprisingly basic track given how much hype has gone into the band’s sessions with producer Danger Mouse. The high-emotion arcs that defined the band as a visceral emotive element in decades past have now been reduced to a guitar line mirroring a rather uninspired peace plea in the chorus lyric “There is no them, there is only us”.
The track will be a free download around the world via iTunes from 6:00 pm ET Sunday until 11:59 pm ET Monday, after which point it will disappear from iTunes, presumably until the new album is released. Bono explains that they chose “Invisible” because “it’s the first [song] we finished,” and the band has a different song in mind as the first single: “We have another song we’re excited about to kick off the album. This is just sort of a sneak preview – to remind people we exist.”
“He’s on it. He’s excited,” bassist Adam Clayton says of Danger Mouse’s involvement. “It’s a great team and feels very liberating at the moment — anything goes. We have an abundance of riches, we could make three or four different records and justify that to ourselves, but to make the best record you can, you have to steer away from the ones you can make easily. We’re really trying to get into territory that we’re not comfortable in. If that makes sense…”
Bono has gone on record as well calling the upcoming album a special one, and vital to the presence of the band in the world today. “They’re mad for it at the moment and they really want to make a new record,” he said of his bandmates. “And they don’t care if it takes 10 years – they don’t care if it never happens again, they just want to get it right.”
On downtime from the studio, the band has spent their time covering Daft Punk and prepping for their spot as the first musical guest when Jimmy Fallon takes over “The Tonight Show” on February 17. Will Smith will also guest on the episode.
The band also received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song last month.
Pick up the track on iTunes.
