Irish rock legends U2 have revealed the title of their 15th studio album, Carnaval de Luz, days before the 50th anniversary of their formation in a Dublin kitchen in 1976.

The album, set to be released on 13 November, will feature a poignant duet between Bono and Dolly Parton called “Torn” – the country music icon’s final vocal recording before her death in August at the age of 80.

Speaking on an Irish Times podcast recently, lead singer Bono (66) confirmed long-standing rumours about the new album, thrilling fans who gathered in the Irish capital this weekend for commemorative U250 events.

“I can’t say it. I’m going to say it,” Bono teased on the podcast, which looked back on the band’s career. “The new album is called Carnaval de Luz … it’s strong stuff.”

Dolly’s final recording

The collaboration with Parton came about unexpectedly. Bono initially approached the singer about working on a separate side project inspired by Irish folk music, but she turned down the idea.

“She said, ‘That’s a little too Irish for me,’” Bono recalled in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine. “But she said, ‘I got this song. It’s called Torn, and do you wanna see where you can take it somewhere else, maybe?’”

Bono and Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid rewrote the lyrics around a mother watching her family split apart. Parton recorded her vocals in June, just two months before her death.

“When she got ill, she got out of her bed to sing this song,” Bono said. “And you can hear that. And I can’t even listen to it now.”

The U2 frontman admitted the band did not know how seriously ill Parton was at the time.

“We did not know she was critically ill,” he said after a surprise performance at Mount Temple Comprehensive School in Dublin. “She was still funny, even though she was ill. She was full of spunk and sort of sassiness about the song.”

Parton approved the final mix

Producer Garret “Jacknife” Lee told Rolling Stone that Parton heard and approved the final version before her death.

“She was so proud of her vocal and the recording. She was thrilled with it,” Lee said. “We were very nervous that she might not approve, or would be uncomfortable with it, but she loved it.”

The track features pedal steel guitar by longtime U2 collaborator Daniel Lanois, who has also worked with Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Willie Nelson. Drummer Larry Mullen Jr added a drum part inspired by Dylan’s “Most of the Time,” which Lanois produced.

“Torn” closes the 12-track album, making it the final song on U2’s first collection of new material in nine years.

50 years of rock history

The album announcement coincides with celebrations marking 50 years since the four band members first met in the kitchen of drummer Larry Mullen (65) on 25 September 1976.

The Central Bank of Ireland issued a commemorative two euro coin on Friday to mark the anniversary.

U2 – composed of Bono, The Edge (65), Adam Clayton (66) and Mullen – have sold an estimated 175 million albums and count more than 23 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Alex Conyngham, owner of Slane Castle where the band have performed and recorded several times, credits their longevity to constant reinvention.

“Every album, they keep pushing creative boundaries,” Conyngham said. “That’s always been in their DNA. They’ve never been a band that have just rested on the hits.”

Aidan Alcock, director of Dublin’s Windmill Lane recording studios where U2 recorded their debut album “Boy,” agreed.

“They’re always full of surprises. And I think that’s what keeps them going as well,” Alcock said.

Bono told the Irish Times that the search for perfection still drives the band.

“I suppose it’s always the thought that just around the corner lies the perfect song or the perfect performance … it’s mad to say but that’s still the drug of choice in our band,” he said.