Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter shares intense new orchestral piece ‘Le Minotaure’
Since French electronic duo Daft Punk split up in 2021, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter have been occupying their free time with new musical projects.
During his time in Daft Punk, Bangalter created multiple tracks for the realm of cinema, with the most notable example being En Corps and Riga (Take 1). He also provided the entire score for Gaspar Noé’s controversial 2002 film Irréversible and crafted the track ‘Sangria’ for the director’s 2018 psychological horror Climax.
However, most recently, the musician has shared a new movement, ‘Le Minotaure’, from his ballet score, Mythologies. Bangalter’s score was commissioned by Angelin Preljocaj, founder of Ballet Preljocaj and choreographer of Mythologies, which premiered last year. The Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine has performed the musician’s piece, which has been recorded under the supervision of Romain Dumas.
The full score is set for release on April 7th and marks his first solo record since Irréversible. However, Mythologies takes a distinctively different sonic direction from the music fans of Bangalter are used to hearing. Although Bangalter ditches the intense and mindbending synths that defined Irréversible and the danceable beats of Daft Punk, the dramatic orchestral nature of ‘Le Minotaure’ retains the musician’s ambitious sensibilities.
After a moody double bass opens the track, panoramic strings take prominence before Bangalter slows everything down to allow beautiful violin solos to dominate. The musician expresses virtuosic skill as the piece moves between highly intense and mellow moments with effortless flow. Over the course of seven minutes, the piece remains highly captivating as the listener is guided through a rich auditory journey of classical instruments.
The musician previously shared another piece from the record, ‘L’Accouchement’, which retains a much calmer soundscape, although a slight sense of uneasiness lingers beneath the surface of the track through the use of high-pitched brooding strings.
In other news, Daft Punk will reissue their final album, Random Access Memories, to mark its tenth anniversary this year. An expanded edition will be available, featuring 35 minutes of previously unheard material. A demo of ‘Infinity Repeating’, an early take of ‘GL’ and an unfinished 2012 version of ‘Prime’ are just some of the new cuts that can be found on the reissue. It will be available from May 12th onwards.
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