Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter Announces Solo Album — and Reveals His Face for the First Time

Thomas Bangalter, half of the pioneering French electronic duo Daft Punk, who announced their split in 2021, has announced his first orchestral solo album — and has revealed his face for the first time in a public context, albeit as a realistic illustration. Daft Punk were famously anonymous, performing and appearing in public wearing elaborate helmets, including their performance at the 2014 Grammy Awards, where they won album of the year for their final LP, “Random Access Memories” (pictured above). Early in their career the duo issued some blurred photographs of themselves but quickly adopted an anonymous profile.

Coming April 7 on Erato/Warner Classics, Bangalter’s new album, “Mythologies,” is a work that was initially commissioned by the choreographer Angelin Preljocaj for the ballet of the same name and premiered by the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine under the direction of Romain Dumas. According to the announcement, “As a substantial lyrical work, Mythologies finds the co-founder of Daft Punk reinventing his approach to composition” and that the 90-minute score “shows scant regard for conventional stylistic boundaries,” revealing “a love of Baroque music and traces of American minimalism.”

The project dates back to the autumn of 2019, when Angelin Preljocaj invited Bangalter to write the music for a new work that was to mark the culmination of several years of collaboration with the Opéra National de Bordeaux. The piece was intended for ten dancers from the Opéra National de Bordeaux’s ballet company, ten others from Preljocaj’s own company and the house’s resident orchestra.

The track list appears below.

Tracklist : 

I. Premiers Mouvements

II. Le Catch

III. Thalestris

IV. Les Gémeaux I

V. Les Amazones

VI. L’Arrivée d’Alexandre

VII. Treize Nuits

VIII. Danae

IX. Zeus

X. L’Accouchement

XI. Les Gorgones

XII. Renaissances

XIII. Le Minotaure 

XIV. Eden

XV. Arès

XVI. Aphrodite

XVII. Les Naïades

XVIII. Pas de Deux

XIX. Circonvolutions

XX. Les Gémeaux II

XXI. Icare

XXII. Danse Funèbre

XXIII. La Guerre