Abba set to enthrall fans with new album and virtual concert after 40 years

Pop sensations Abba have amazed fans with big announcement about their first studio album in 40 years.

Abba Voyage will be released in November, before a "revolutionary" set of concerts where virtual avatars will play hits like Mamma Mia and Waterloo.

The quartet, who split up in 1982, said they ended up back in the recording studio while working on the stage show.

Benny Andersson said: "At first it was just two songs, and then we said, 'Well, maybe we should do a few others."

They recorded 10 tracks - two of which were premiered during a globally-streamed press conference on Thursday. The first, 'I Still Have Faith In You', is an affectionate piano ballad portraying the bond the four band members share.

The second track, Don't Shut Me Down, is a mini-melodrama in the vein of the Abba classic The Day Before You Came, where a woman returns to her partner years after walking out.

Both songs will feature on Abba Voyage when it is released on 5 November, with an eye on the lucrative Christmas market. The record will even include "a little Christmas tune", said Benny, as well as "a number of pop songs".