The announcement of a new ABBA album draws scepticism, especially from a generation that grew up listening to popular tracks from ABBA Gold (1992) on Walkmans and car stereos, and then in concert by various choirs and bands.
It has been nearly 40 years since their last album; could the Swedish band recreate the magic? More importantly, did they need to? Despite our wildest fears of what a 21st-century ABBA would sound like, the septuagenarians are here to conquer hearts once again through Voyage—blending their same old brand of melodies, and their unique mix of melancholic strains and feet-tapping choruses.
It is a monumental feat to bring back the original ‘Super Troupers’ of an iconic band, four decades since their messy divorces and dissolution. Every time they were asked about a reunion, the idea was summarily dismissed. But over the last few years, the stance softened—with age, perhaps—and in a world hit by a pandemic, these Norse demigods have swooped in to give us a dopamine hit the way only nostalgia can.
Listening to the 10-track Voyage, it feels like they never left. When Agnetha and Anni-Frid croon, “You’re just here for the music, that’s all, or could it be/ That you missed the good old times when you danced with me?”, it is like listening to them all over again. Maybe they lack the peppiness of their youth, but their vocals are still strong and yet smooth as butter.
Benny and Bjorn stick to writing and composing this time, not offering anything by way of backup vocals. But they “understood the assignment”, as the meme goes. People want more of the same, not new trends. (Just look at how far Coldplay has fallen since selling its soul to EDM.)
So, they borrow heavily from their previous body of work, the duo going full ABBA on their compositions. If you slip in a ‘Voulez-Vous’ here or a ‘Fernando’ there between the new tracks, it would take a well-trained ear to spot that they were composed more than 40 years apart.
In fact, the music is so dominant, it overpowers the vocals at times, like in ‘I Still Have Faith in You’. The lyrics in the album often feel jagged and wordy, probably the only departure from their songs of old, where rhyme and rhythm were expertly interlaced. The emotional-crisis narrative kicks in in the second half of the album with slow, pensive songs, but the bouncy numbers in the first half radiate the proper ABBA feel. ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’ and ‘Just a Notion’ are standout tracks that deserve special mention.
The ABBA formula works because they are peerless and their work in the 1970s was the definition of ‘evergreen’. To the young and old, take a chance on Voyage. To ABBA, thank you for the music.