Thursday, September 2, 2021
Four decades later, ABBA is back.
The Swedish pop superstars announced Thursday that the quartet will release a new studio album, "Voyage," along with staging a concert with the group performing digitally with a live 10-piece band, in a purpose-built arena in London on May 27th 2022.
The digital versions of ABBA - Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus,Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad have been created following weeks and months of motion-capture and performance techniques with the four band members and an 850-strong team from Industrial Light & Magic, the company founded by George Lucas, in what is the company’s first foray into music.
”It’s been a while since we made music together,” the band said in a statement. “Almost 40 years, actually. We took a break in the spring of 1982, and now we’ve decided it’s time to end it. They say it’s foolhardy to wait more than 40 years between albums, so we’ve recorded a follow-up to ‘The Visitors.’ To tell the truth, the main inspiration to record again comes from our involvement in creating the strangest and most spectacular concert you could ever dream of. We’re going to be able to sit back in an audience and watch our digital selves perform our songs on a stage in a custom-built arena in London next spring. Weird and wonderful!”
”To all of you who patiently have followed us in some way or another these past decades: thank you for waiting. It’s time for a new journey to begin.”
Anderson said,“We simply call it “Voyage” and we’re truly sailing in uncharted waters. With the help of our younger selves, we travel into the future. It’s not easy to explain but then it hasn’t been done before.” “It’s hard to say what’s been the most joyful thing for me with this project. If it’s the involvement in creating the concert together with everyone or being back in the studio together again after 40 years. I think hearing Frida and Agnetha singing again is hard to beat. When you come to the arena you will have the four of us together with an absolutely glorious 10-piece band. And even if not in the flesh, we will be right there, thanks to the work of the creative team and ILM.”
ABBA's last album was "The Visitors." Since then, they have only recorded two new songs, "I Still Have Faith In You" and "Don’t Shut Me Down."
Recorded together at xxx studio Riksmixningsverket in Stockholm, Sweden, "Voyage" will be released worldwide on Nov. 5 on Capitol Records.
ABBA Voyage will open May 27th 2022 at the ABBA Arena, a 3,000-person capacity arena located at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London. Pre-registration for tickets opens at 6 p.m. tonight on abbavoyage.com with tickets on general sale on Sept. 7.
The ABBA Voyage concert is made with the help of producer Svana Gisla (David Bowie Blackstar/Lazarus, Beyoncé and Jay Z for HBO, Springsteen and I), producer Ludvig Andersson (And Then We Danced, Yung Lean - “In My Head”, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again), director Baillie Walsh (Flashbacks of a Fool, Being James Bond, Springsteen and I), co-executive producer Johan Renck (Spaceman, David Bowie Blackstar/Lazarus, Chernobyl) and choreographer Wayne McGregor CBE (The Royal Ballet, Company Wayne McGregor, Paris Opera Ballet).