No, Daft Punk is not reuniting — but the duo are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their epochal Grammy-winning final album, “Random Access Memories,” with an expanded edition that features 35 minutes of previously unreleased music across nine songs. Today, the duo dropped “The Writing of Fragments of Time,” the first track from the album (which comes out May 12).
According to the announcement, the track is a “documentary track” that nods back to the album song “Giorgio by Moroder,” in which the iconic Giorgio Moroder discusses his own creative process and come up. “This newest behind the scenes track glimpses the actual humans at work with all their doubts, excitement and first draft imperfections.”
The announcement adds, “The lyrics for Fragments of Time were written and recorded with longtime Daft Punk friend and collaborator Todd Edwards (who first worked with the band on “Face to Face” from their “Discovery” album in 2001). At the legendary Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles on February 29, 2012 a tape ran for the full session, capturing the entire creative journey behind the making of the track and we hear some of these intimate moments of creation between Thomas Bangalter and Todd Edwards in ‘The Writing of Fragments of Time.’”
Upon its release in 2013 the original track, “Fragments of Time,
captured an element of the origins of the collaboration with the story of how Todd Edwards went to California to record with Daft Punk (https://www.youtube/watch?v=yf2bu0P_4Vo).
“The lyrics written that day were from the perspective of the collaborators’ future selves speculating how they would feel in the future as if remembering this specific creative moment thereby creating a narrative of future nostalgia,” the announcement continues. “Listening to the lyrics ten years later along with the creative process behind them offers listeners the feeling of mirrored reflections in an infinity loop lending to an existential foresight as if creating a sonic time capsule.”
And it’s crystal clear that I don’t ever want it to end
If I had my way, I would never leave
Keep building these random memories
Turning our days into melodies
But since I can’t stay
I’ll just keep playing back these fragments of time
Everywhere I go, these moments will shine
The release comes with a video directed by Daft Punk art director Cédric Hervet.
RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES 10th ANNIVERSARY EDITION
This expanded edition will be available on May 12th in various formats:
3 LPs, 2 CDs, streaming, and download.
TRACKLISTING
Give Life Back to Music
The Game of Love
Giorgio by Moroder
Within
Instant Crush
Lose Yourself To Dance
Touch
Get Lucky
Beyond
Motherboard
Fragments of Time
Doin’ it right
Contact
Horizon (Japan CD)
GLBTM (Studio Outtakes)
Infinity Repeating (2013 Demo)
GL (Early Take)
Prime (2012 Unfinished)
LYTD (Vocoder Tests)
The Writing of Fragments Of Time
Touch (2021 Epilogue)
