Daft Punk Has Broken Up

After 28 years as one of the most iconic faces in electronic music history, French duo Daft Punk has broken up. Their split was first referenced in their latest video “Epilogue,” and later confirmed by their publicist. Daft Punk’s latest studio album, Random Access Memories, came out in 2013.

“Epilogue” sees the group’s Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter walking in the desert wearing their signature robot helmets and leather jackets. Throughout the video, Bangalter is seen lagging further behind, before ultimately stopping. De Homem-Christo then turns around and both members stare at each other for a moment, before Bangalter removes his jacket and turns his back to his bandmate. Following this, de Homem-Christo pushes a few buttons and Bangalter walks away before exploding. As the video fades out, a choral version of “Touch” from Random Access Memories plays in the background.

Bangalter and de Homem-Christo formed Daft Punk in 1993 after the dissolution of their rock group Darlin’. Their first single “The New Wave” was released in a limited capacity in 1994, but it was followed by the commercially successful “Da Funk” a year later. After signing with Virgin Records, Daft Punk released their debut album Homework in 1997, which popularized the French house scene internationally.

Their follow-up record Discovery was lauded with even more success upon its release in 2001, cementing Daft Punk’s status as one of the largest acts in electronic music. They were active throughout the 2010s as well, last year the duo was tapped to produce the score for Dario Argento’s Occhiali Neri and they released the bonus tracks from Tron: Legacy onto streaming services.