Stockholm: Iconic Swedish band ABBA is back as the four-member team is all set to launch its new album in November this year, four decades after its split in 1982.
Voyage will be unveiled on November 5 but two of its tracks I Still Have Faith In You and Don’t Shut Me Down were launched on Thursday. The group would also perform in a series of virtual concerts “using digital avatars of themselves in May in London next year,” Reuters reports.
“First it was just two songs,” songwriter Benny Andersson said in a pre-recorded video message adding, “Then we said ‘maybe we should do, I don’t know, a few others. What do you say girls?’ And they said ‘yeah’ and then I asked ‘why don’t we do a full album?'”
Reuters adds that the concerts will be held at a purpose-built ABBA Arena in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and feature digital versions of its four stars Agnetha Faltskog, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The concerts will feature 22 songs, including the two new numbers and a compilation of some of their biggest hits.
In a statement Faltskog mentions, she was not sure of the expectations after their regrouping, “But Benny’s recording studio is such a friendly and safe environment, and before I knew it I was really enjoying myself.”
ABBA was set up in the early ’70s by couples Agnetha and Bjornbwith Benny and Anni-Frid. Their initials gave the band its name. Looking back at their popularity, they have sold more than 385 million albums with their last being The Visitors in 1981 that also included songs which depicted their imminent split that took place in 1982.
