Mamma Mia! Here they go again as Abba reform

Band describe recording new music ‘like time has stood still’

The four members of the band, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Bjórn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad issued a press release on Friday afternoon.
The four members of the band, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Bjórn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad issued a press release on Friday afternoon.

Abba have astounded the music world by announcing that they have reformed and recorded new music.

The four members of the band, Agnetha Faltskog, Benny Andersson, Bjórn Ulvaeus and Anni-Frid Lyngstad issued a press release on Friday afternoon from Stockholm out of the blue.

“We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio,” they said.

“So we did. And it was like time has stood still and that we only had been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!”

READ MORE

As a consequence the band recorded two new songs, one of which is I Still Have Faith In You, and it will be performed by the digital version of themselves in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC aimed for broadcasting December.

“We have come of age, but the song is new and it feels good,” they concluded.

ABBA fans have long despaired of the band ever getting back together again for live performances so instead the ABBA avatar project was conceived by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller and the Universal Music Group last year.

It is due to tour the world next year using avatars instead of the four members of the band.

It has been described as a “groundbreaking venture that will utilise the very latest in digital and virtual-reality technology…which will enable a new generation of fans to see, hear, and feel Abba in a way previously unimagined”.

The statement made no mention of a tour but any tour involving the real deal would certainly be one of the most popular in history.

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy

Ronan McGreevy is a news reporter with The Irish Times