The rock legends return with a tightly focused album that stands as a counterargument to pop-culture doomsaying

In the 1988 documentary Rattle and Hum , B.B. King chats with Bono , then 27. The bluesman reflects on his station in life: “[People] say, ‘There he is, a 62-year-old — and what is he trying to do?'”

It’s a question that U2 ‘s members may have asked themselves as they worked on Carnaval de Luz , their 16th full-length and first album of original music in nearly a decade. They were teens when the group formed in Dublin half a century ago, in their thirties when their art-damaged rock started to “fuck up the mainstream,” middle-aged when they reinvented themselves with “Beautiful Day,” and old enough to know better when they brute-forced Songs of Innocence onto your iPhone. Their resume boasts multiplatinum Number One hits, instant sellout tours, and household-name status.…