Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter is releasing a new album.
‘Mirage – Ballet for 16 Dancers’ doubles as the score for a 60-minute ballet of the same name, which premiered last May at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and was created by choreographer Damien Jalet and contemporary artist Kōhei Nawa.
Check out a trailer for the eight-track album – inspired by the “sculptural approach to sound and music” of trailblazing Greek-French composer Iannis Xenakis – below. ‘Mirage – Ballet for 16 Dancers’ is out on 5th June via classical label Erato.
The new LP is the latest in a flurry of post-Daft Punk activity for Bangalter, whose work has taken an increasingly compositional direction since the group’s split in 2021. In 2023, he released the solo album ‘Mythologies’, another orchestral score for the eponymous French ballet that premiered the previous year.
In 2023, he also conceived a soundtrack for the dance performance ‘Chiroptera Matiere Premiere’ – which featured 154 dancers at the Paris Opera House – and was chronicled on the ‘Chiroptera’ soundtrack album in 2024.The same dance project was later explored in the CHIROPTERA documentary.
This year, he is due to co-host an event with Keinemusik’s Rampa at Art Basel 2026 on 20th June. The event is described as an “immersive experience”, presented by art.klub and produced by Nordstern Basel.
Meanwhile, Bangalter’s much-hyped Alexandra Palace B2B set with Fred again.. was recently made available to listen to via Apple Music. The show marked the pair’s second time performing together, following a set with Busy P and Erol Alkan at the Centre Pompidou in Paris last year, which marked his first DJ appearance in 16 years.
