At least they’re not doing it for the money, money, money

Mamma mia, here we go again. Abba have been back in the studio recording new music. There is something sweet about the idea of old friends and couples setting aside decades-long estrangements to rekindle musical magic. But it’s hard not to feel at least a tinge of concern.

In this era of inevitable reunions, Abba were one of the rare holdouts, reportedly turning down billion-dollar offers to re-form. Years of refusal did not seem to be based on antipathy but a very Swedish pragmatism. The ex-members were all rich, successful and living rewarding lives away from the intrusive spotlight of fame. As Bjorn Ulvaeus told The Sunday Telegraph in 2008: “There is simply no motivation to regroup. Money is not a factor and we would like people to remember us as we were – young, exuberant, full of energy and ambition.”

I think it’s fair to say none of those adjectives applies any more. In 2013, Agnetha Faltskog said: “I don’t have the energy and also I don’t want to travel.” And in 2014, Ulvaeus said: “You will never see us on stage again”. Which sounded pretty definitive.

Yet here they are, announcing a new song, I Still Have Faith In You, to be unveiled on the BBC in December. The twist is that it won’t actually be Abba performing, but their “digital selves”.

With Spice Girls impresario Simon Fuller, they have been developing the Abba Avatar project, rumoured to be a world tour featuring 3D holographic projections of the band.

So Abba are not so much reuniting as extending the brand, an inescapable trend in modern entertainment – live shows that aren’t live. A hologram of Roy Orbison recently toured Britain. The estates of other late, great stars have holographic concerts in the works, including Elvis and Whitney Houston. Abba are living musicians, effectively using technology to create shows they no longer want to perform.

Abba’s audience may be older but the band will continue to be presented as simulacrums of eternal youth. It will no doubt be thrilling and spectacular. Yet there is a denial of age and maturity that fits contemporary obsessions with immortality. At least the new recordings may give us a sense of how a grown-up Abba have developed. But with talent on this scale, I am not sure they really need to hide behind laser guided feather boas.