Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter reveals the real reason behind the duo’s split

Thomas Bangalter, once an enigma, has now revealed the dissolution of Daft Punk.

BBC News recently conducted a revealing interview with the French artist just before the launch of his very first post-Daft Punk album, ‘Mythologies’. During the interview, Bangalter noted that “Daft Punk was a project that blurred the line between reality and fiction with these robot characters”. He went on to say that it was very vital for him and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo not to disrupt the story while it was ongoing.

Bangalter concluded by discussing the creative process behind their music, emphasising that it was very much human-based and not algorithmic. He expressed his admiration for technology as a tool but also had “concerns about the rise of artificial intelligence go[ing] beyond its use in music creation.”  

Bangalter pointed out that Daft Punk’s performance did not necessarily favour technological and digital progress. “We tried to use these machines to express something extremely moving that a machine cannot feel, but a human can. We were always on the side of humanity and not on the side of technology… As much as I love this character, the last thing I would want to be, in the world we live in, in 2023, is a robot.”

This Friday, 7th April, will see the release of Thomas Bangalter’s first project since the split of Daft Punk: ‘Mythologies’. It is the album adaptation of the ballet score he has been working on since 2021. Two featured pieces, ‘L’Accouchement’ and ‘Le Minotaure’, are available to listen to now.

In May, Daft Punk will unveil a 10th-anniversary edition of their last album, ‘Random Access Memories’. This edition will include 35 minutes of unheard material. Last month, they presented a video for ‘The Writing of Fragments of Time’ featuring Todd Edwards, helmed by Cedric Hervet.

A new book, After Daft: The Rewiring of 21st Century Culture, authored by journalist, author and DJ Mag contributor Gabriel Szatan, will be released in the spring of 2024. The book will explore the career and cultural influence of Daft Punk and include interviews and reflections from a variety of artists, such as Paul Johnson, DJ Minx, Carl Craig, Kevin Saunderson, 2manydjs, The Avalanches, Peaches, Todd Edwards, Annie Mac, Kavinsky, Tim Sweeney, and more.

You can read the full interview with Thomas Bangalter via BBC News.