The Blackout: U2 premiere first track from next album ‘Songs of Experience’

U2 has rocked out on a guitar-charging first track of its upcoming album, which the Irish rock legends had largely finished last year but revisited following Donald Trump’s shock election victory.

In the first taste of its upcoming album “Songs of Experience” the band released The Blackout, a rock number with echoes of early-1990s “Achtung Baby” era U2 with a dominant bass line pushing The Edge’s heavily distorted guitar.

U2 released the song through a video of a live performance - which, true to the song’s title, is a black screen. U2 earlier hinted at the song by sending fan club members anonymous letters in the mail of silhouetted figures, which arrived when the United States was experiencing a historic solar eclipse on August 21.

The track, however, will not be considered the lead single from the album. That will be You’re the Best Thing About Me, which U2 said in social media posts would come out September 6 along with more details on the album.

“Songs of Experience” - its title a reference to a collection of poems by William Blake - is a sequel to 2014’s “Songs of Innocence”, which reflected heavily on frontman Bono’s childhood in suburban Dublin.

The latest album is set for a more conventional release after U2 acknowledged its strategy backfired for “Songs of Innocence”.