Monday 22 February 2021, around 3.30pm. After five years of total 'silence', Daft Punk's YouTube channel, which has some 4 million subscribers, shows signs of life. A nearly 8-minute long video entitled "Epilogue" is posted online without any further information.
Some Internet users were quick to rejoice at the idea that this was (finally) the announcement of a new album, eight years after the runaway success of 'Random Access Memories'. All the more so since, in recent months, several rumours and (false) official documents suggested that the band's return was imminent. It was even thought for a while that they would be appearing on The Weekend show at the last Super Bowl.
But amidst the images of the helmeted duo from 'Epilogue', one stands out more than the others: an epitaph reading '1993-2021'. In the end, we had to wait for Kathryn Frazier, the band's long-standing press officer, to speak out in the columns of several leading media (Pitchfork, Variety and AFP in particular) to confirm that this video was indeed the sign of the band's separation after 28 years together.
A new clip? Not at all. The images in this video are just bits and pieces from Daft Punk's 2006 sci-fi feature 'Electroma', which depicts the journey of robots who want to become humans. An unreleased closing track? Not at all. The electro notes that resonate at the end of the video are taken from "Touch", a track on the band's latest album, "Random Access Memories".
And if some people still find it hard to believe that the Daft Punk story has come to an end like this, it's partly because of the marketing strategy skilfully orchestrated by the group over three decades. "Right from the start, the two Frenchmen made marketing an integral part of their creative process, with a simple idea: to cultivate rarity and mystery", sums up AFP. "Daft Punk never show their faces, rarely appear on television and release few records. As a result, every one of their appearances is an event and their robot helmets have become an instantly recognisable brand."
Since 1997, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have appeared in masks and helmets for rare concerts and interviews. In 2013, they made the release of their album Random Access Memories official with a simple 15-second loop broadcast in an SNL advert. In 2014 they scooped five historic awards on the Grammy Awards stage while remaining completely silent.
"They've managed to create a mystery, they're playing on fantasy. Everyone is
ask what they're like, what it's really like. This is the key to
their success", explained producer Pedro Winter, the duo's former manager, on France Info at the time of the release of their latest album.
In short, in a career spanning almost thirty years, the number of albums released by the group and the number of photos featuring their faces can be counted on the fingers of one hand. And inevitably, so much mystery has always titillated the interest of the greatest number of people, creating a veritable "Daftmania" and theories by the hundreds at the slightest whisper. Daft Punk have brilliantly orchestrated every important moment in their career.
So much so that we still have our doubts: could this unexpected announcement of their separation be hiding another surprise?
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