ABBA again after 40 years with new album, digital stage present

By Associated Press

LONDON: ABBA is releasing its first new music in 4 many years, together with a live performance efficiency that can see the “Dancing Queen” quartet going solely digital. The forthcoming album “Voyage,” to be launched November 5, is a follow-up to 1981’s “The Visitors,” which till now had been the swan track of the Swedish supergroup. And a digital model of the band will start a sequence of live shows in London on May 27. “We took a break in the spring of 1982 and now we’ve decided it’s time to end it,” ABBA mentioned in an announcement Thursday. “They say it’s foolhardy to wait more than 40 years between albums, so we’ve recorded a follow-up to ‘The Visitors.'” The group has been creating the dwell present with George Lucas’ special-effects firm, Industrial Light & Magic. They say the digital variations of themselves are “weird and wonderful,” and transcend holograms.”It was suggested to us that we could go on tour as a hologram. And this is now four, five years ago,” Björn Ulvaeus, ABBA’s 76-year-old guitarist, backup singer and co-songwriter mentioned at a information convention Thursday. “And we found out very soon that that wasn’t even possible because holograms is an old technology, but I mean, the vision was there of having our digital selves, that even was a possibility.” “And also,” mentioned Benny Andersson, 74, who performs keyboards, sings and writes songs with Ulvaeus, “we want to do it before we were dead.” Ulvaeus added, “it’s good if you do that before you dead. Because it gets more accurate then.”They sang and performed collectively for hours each day for weeks, utilizing movement seize and different strategies to create the 22-song, roughly 90-minute present. “We dressed up in a leotards with dots or little things on them,” Ulvaeus mentioned. “And we had dots in our faces and helmets with cameras. And there we were, the four of us on stage together doing these songs.”They say it was onerous work however an amazing pleasure, however for one factor. “I’d say the only big problem was that we had to shave our beards,” Andersson mentioned. “I’ve had my beard for 50 years.” The deliberate present spurred the making of the album, which options the brand new songs “I Still Have Faith In You” and “Don’t Shut Me Down.” It started with classes in 2018 and was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.”It was so joyful to be together in the studio again, the four of us,” Andersson mentioned.The present will come 50 years after the founding of the group that consisted of two married {couples} for many of its existence, and whose identify is an acronym of the primary names of its members, Agnetha Fältskog, 71, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 75, Ulvaeus and Andersson. Their music has remained ubiquitous within the many years since their breakup, partially due to the stage musical “Mamma Mia!” and the 2 movies that adopted it. They had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. Last week the group launched an internet site with the title ” ABBA Voyage,” teasing the brand new announcement. Tickets go on sale Tuesday.