Edge says new U2 album sounds different

LONDON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- U2 guitarist, The Edge, says the Irish rock band's newest album, "No Line on the Horizon," offers a different musical approach.

The guitarist, whose real name is David Howell Evans, said that while the group's 12th studio album will remind fans of the band's usual sound, it also will plow new ground, the BBC reported Friday.

"It sounds like a U2 album but it doesn't sound like anything we've done before and it doesn't really sound like anything that's happening at the moment," Evans said of "Horizon," which has been scheduled for a March 2009 release.

Evans also said the album, U2's first since 2004's "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb," features two distinctive parts.

The guitarist said the rockers used their regular musical collaborators, Brian Eno and Danny Lanois, on only half the album's tracks, the BBC reported.

"It's a record of two halves," Evans said. "One half is songs that came virtually fully-formed out of sessions we did with Brian and Danny."

"Then the other half is material we've kicked around a while and went through the usual cycle of versions and incarnations."