– Annica Dupre, Staff Writer
At 2 minutes and 36 seconds, U2 has delivered their shortest-ever single: “Silencio.” It’s difficult not to groove along to this punchy, rip-roaring rocker, though the lyrics add poignant political commentary.
Unpolished
Overproduction is the unfortunate hallmark of modern U2, a habit the band members are beginning to recognize. On their last two albums, “the sound of the band got very cloudy, got very muddy… keyboard overdubs and what have you,” bassist Adam Clayton admitted in a recent Rolling Stone interview. The goal with their forthcoming album Carnaval de Luz, Clayton said, is to strip it back and have “the band sound like they’re in a room playing together.”
Indeed, every band member gets a chance to shine on “Silencio,” the album’s second single. The ever-reliable Clayton-Mullen rhythm section is the song’s driving force. While The Edge has concocted a catchy riff, I’d like to shout out his backing vocals instead. As Bono’s voice ages, the lead singer has increasingly opted for speak-singing. This style makes Edge’s vocals—an essential yet underrated weapon in the U2 arsenal—easier to notice and appreciate. It’s his cry of “Silencio!” that propels the song into its earworm of a chorus.
Coming Alive
“Silencio” hasn’t been rendered soulless from 269 rounds of mixing (which is something the band has actually done, not a number I invented!). Instead, the song has an overall rawness that injects it with vitality. That’s part of the reason why, like all great U2 songs, “Silencio” sounds better live. The band performed it twice during their fiftieth anniversary celebrations on September 25. After watching the footage, I know this song will be an electrifying concert opener.
You can listen to “Silencio” live from Dublin’s Mount Temple Comprehensive School, where U2 first met as teenagers, here.
“In the Silence, the Devil Rock and Rolls”
Lyrically, “Silencio” is about the danger of staying silent in the face of atrocities and injustice. It pays particular attention to the Trump administration’s recent ICE raids. These operations have targeted, detained, and deported migrants, asylum seekers, legal immigrants, and American citizens, primarily those of Latin American descent.
Since this is a U2 song, the lyrics are brimming with Christian imagery. The line “Pepper spraying, church is playing crowd control” takes a shot at Christian nationalism. This ideology, closely associated with the MAGA movement, promotes xenophobia rather than welcoming all who come to the chapel’s doors. In the chorus, Bono makes a plea for empathy, evoking the open arms of Christ the Redeemer: “Where did our love go, hey, Jesus of Rio?”
The music video features elderly and young Hispanic couples dancing in an empty disco while the band performs onstage. A shot of an employee stacking chairs creates a sharp contrast between those joyfully celebrating their culture and those who are no longer there to do so. Meanwhile, masked police officers look on from a table.
“Uneasy feeling, I just heard a gunshot,” Bono sings. “There are things you can get used to or not.”
What’s Next
“Silencio” sounds completely different from “Street of Dreams,” the first (and, truthfully, lackluster) single from Carnaval de Luz. Thus, it’s hard to judge what sound the band is going for on this new album—or if they’re experimenting with several instead. There’s a way to find out, though, and that’s by listening to Carnaval de Luz when it drops on November 13.
