ABBA return with new album after 40-year hiatus

Stockholm: Swedish pop sensation ABBA made a comeback on Friday with their new album "Voyage", nearly 40 years after they split up, with a digital avatar concert eventually planned in London.

Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid -- forming the acronym ABBA -- have not released any new music since their split in 1982, a year after their last album "The Visitors".

"Voyage" went live at midnight Thursday in various time zones, to the delight of longtime fans worldwide.

"It doesn´t sound dated, it doesn´t sound 40 years ago," ABBA fan Emilie De Laere said at a listening party in Stockholm for the Swedish band´s much-anticipated release.

After years of speculation and several dropped hints, the group finally announced the reunion and new album in September, and released the singles "I still have faith in you" and "Don´t shut me down".

The 10-track "Voyage" is not all the group will be releasing.

They will also unveil digital avatars -- dubbed "ABBAtars" -- at a concert in London in May, resembling their 1979 selves.

The holograms are the product of a years-long project, designed in partnership with a special effects company of Star Wars creator George Lucas.

Repeatedly delayed by technical difficulties, then by the Covid-19 pandemic, they will finally be unveiled in May.