ABBA share first reunion photos from the studio

The Swedish pop group announced a surprise reunion earlier this year

ABBA shared new photos behind-the-scenes of them recording new material, following their surprise reunion earlier this year.

The Swedish pop group's manager, Gorel Hanser, posted a few shots of the four-piece recording at RMV Studio in Stockholm, Sweden - the longtime headquarters for ABBA's Benny Andersson.

News of the reunion was first unveiled on the official ABBA Instagram account, where the band wrote: “The decision to go ahead with the exciting ABBA avatar tour project had an unexpected consequence."

“We all four felt that, after some 35 years, it could be fun to join forces again and go into the recording studio. So we did. And it was like time had stood still and that we had only been away on a short holiday. An extremely joyful experience!”

The statement continued: “It resulted in two new songs and one of them ‘I Still Have Faith In You’ will be performed by our digital selves in a TV special produced by NBC and the BBC aimed for broadcasting in December. We may have come of age, but the song is new. And it feels good."

It had previously been announced that virtual "Abbatars" were being crafted to represent the four members of the pop group for an upcoming digital tour, expected for 2019 or 2020. They will be pictured as they looked during the height of their fame, with singer Bjorn Ulvaeus saying: “We thought we looked good that year.”

Benny Andersson told BBC News that the group feel little pressure to "prove anything". He added: "I don't feel we have to think about, 'Oh what if it was better before?' Maybe it was, but we can't care about that. We do it because we think it was a good thing to do. We enjoyed it very much. We'll see. I hope you like them."

ABBA have sold more than 400 million albums in their careers and have had nine No 1 hits in the UK between 1974 and 1980. Yet they have not performed since 1986, other than a brief appearance at a private party in 2016.

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