Daft Punk officially disbanded two years ago, but up until this point, the band members, er, robots, had been mum on the subject. In a recent interview with the BBC, co-founder Thomas Bangalter clarified the choice, saying he was getting uneasy with the fusion of music and technology.
“I would argue that [Daft Punk] was an inquiry that began with machines and moved away from them. I adore technology as a tool, but I’m somewhat frightened by the nature of human interaction with machines, Bangalter said.
“We attempted to depict something very touching that a machine cannot feel but a human can using these devices. We’ve always stood up for humanity, and not the technological side,” he continued. Nonetheless, Bangalter said that with the development of algorithmic and artificial intelligence technologies, “the last thing I want to be in the world we live in in 2023 is a robot.”
Recently, Daft Punk revealed plans for a deluxe release of their previous record. Random Access Memory contains a demo recording of Bangalter and producer Todd Edwards working on the song “Fragments of Time.” Such a tape could only be distributed now that Daft Punk is no longer in existence, Bangalter told the BBC.
“Daft Punk was a project that used these robotic figures to straddle the gap between truth and fiction. It was crucial for me and [co-founder] Guy Manuel not to ruin the story as it was happening, according to Bangalter. “Now that the story is over, it felt interesting to reveal part of the creative process that is very human based and not algorithmic in any way.”
