U2 had delayed the release of its new album because of the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States.

David Evans, also known as guitarist The Edge, told Rolling Stone in an interview published Monday that the band's new album, 'Songs Of Experience', was almost ready to be released when the Republican candidate pulled off a shock victory in November - causing the Irish rock band to reconsider.

'It's like a pendulum has suddenly just taken a huge swing in the other direction,' The Edge said. So the band resolved to put the album 'on ice' for a little while in order to take a second look at the songs and check that they send the right message.

In the meantime, U2 will embark on a special tour to commemorate its 1978 album 'The Joshua Tree', beginning in May in North America before jetting off to Europe.

U2 has delayed the release of its new album, 'Songs Of Experience', because of the election of Donald Trump, guitarist The Edge (right) said in an interview published Monday

'Songs Of Experience' follows U2's last studio album to date, 'Songs Of Innocence', which came out in 2014. Both titles are a play on the name of William Blake's poem collection, 'Songs Of Innocence And Of Experience'.

The Edge didn't specify when the new album would come out. He explained that 80 per cent of it had been written before or during 2016, before Trump's election.

'We just went, "Hold on a second – we've got to give ourselves a moment to think about this record and about how it relates to what's going on in the world, " ' The Edge said, adding that the world was now 'a different place'.

Rolling Stone writer Andy Greene asked whether The Edge was talking about Trump's victory and Brexit - but the guitarist singled out the mogul's election specifically.

The Edge (pictured) said the tycoon's shocking victory had made it necessary to put the album 'on ice' to check that the songs still conveyed the message they wanted

'It's like a pendulum has suddenly just taken a huge swing in the other direction,' he said.

U2 realized it 'needed to put the album on ice for a minute just to really think about it one more time before putting it out' to make sure it said what the band really wanted to say, The Edge added.

Front runner Bono had previously called Trump 'potentially the worst idea that ever happened to America' in a September interview.

The band is due to begin its Joshua Tree Tour in May in Vancouver and end in Brussels on August 1, with stops in Canada, across the US and in Europe.