It turns out we have an unlikely source to thank for ABBA returning as the keyboardist of New Rave relics Klaxons helped with the reunion.
You all remember Klaxons: the British New Rave – yes it was a genre – icons exploded into the mainstream in 2007 when their debut album, Myths of the Near Future, won that year’s prestigious Mercury Prize. They toured and headlined festivals worldwide but their subsequent records, 2010’s Surfing the Void and 2014’s Love Frequency, didn’t find as much acclaim.
After they disbanded in 2015, their keyboardist James Righton kept busy, creating the soundtrack for the 2019 film Benjamin and releasing his debut solo album, The Performer, last year.
Now, as per NME, Righton has revealed his small part in reuniting ABBA. The musician posted a picture of himself alongside ABBA’s Benny Andersson in a Swedish studio on Instagram over the weekend.
“I had an incredible/fun/magical/surreal time helping Benny and Bjorn find the 10 piece band for the reunion,” he wrote in the caption. “I can safely say that the musicians chosen and the band that has been formed is the best group of musicians I’ve ever heard play together in a room. There is serious chemistry and vibe.”
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ABBA, of course, made their historic comeback last week, announcing their new album Voyage and dropping the first two singles from it, ‘I Still Have Faith in You’ and ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’. Voyage is scheduled for release on November 5th and it will be their first studio album in a massive 40 years following 1981’s The Visitor.
And considering those first two singles were nostalgic affairs, favouring slower melancholy over danceability, maybe Righton could have given them some New Rave tips to get the party going.
They also announced ‘ABBA Voyage’, their digital avatar concert series in which the 10-piece live band will perform. The run of shows will take place at the purpose-built ABBA Arena at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London from Friday, May 27th, 2022.
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Check out ‘I Still Have Faith in You’ by ABBA:
