U2 are planning an April 2014 release for their new album, which they will announce with a commercial during the Super Bowl.
The Irish rockers worked on the album with producer Danger Mouse at Electric Lady Studios in New York. The band has been working on new material since 2011, when they finished the lengthy world tour that supported their 2009 album, No Line on the Horizon.
Bassist Adam Clayton said in June that the band had recorded an “abundance of riches,” which the musicians have been sifting through to make the strongest record possible. “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,” he said then. “We’re really trying to get into territory that we’re not comfortable in.”
Last month, Clayton described the songs as a “bit of a return to U2 of old, but with the maturity, if you like, of the U2 of the last 10 years.” At the time, he said the group had selected 12 tracks and were hoping to complete them by the end of November so they could enjoy Christmas.
The upcoming won’t be the only new music U2 have on the way. On November 29th, Black Friday, the band is putting out a 10-inch single containing the new song “Ordinary Love.” The group recorded the track for the upcoming biopic Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. The flipside of the vinyl contains a new version of the No Line track “Breathe.”