Daft Punk has a fifth studio album stashed away, and it might not be long before we hear it, according to former collaborator and session drummer Quinn–AKA Quinn Smith.
Speaking with alt.news 26:46, a student-run media organization at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Quinn revealed that after recording drums for Daft Punk’s final album, Random Access Memories, he was recruited by famed robot producers Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo to work on another as-of-yet-unreleased album in 2018.
“I keep checking in. I’m told that they’re working on it. It’s coming out of the locker,” Quinn said, adding that he’s been in contact with Daft Punk to get their permission to discuss the project publicly because “they’re very secretive as you know.”
In between comments for a longer segment on Using DIY Instruments to Discover New Sounds, Quinn detailed his experience playing with the legendary French artists for “four or five days” during the album’s production, filled with spontaneity, “dancing around” the studio and oddball instrumentation, like Quinn’s own technique of playing piano strings with a kick pedal.
“Thomas had this keyboard, and actually had a computer program, and he was just experimenting. He was just hitting things. We were literally just trying to get vibes across,” Quinn said. “They were a lot of fun. They played with me, hitting stuff, banging stuff.”
Quinn added that he was joined by another frequent Daft Punk collaborator, guitarist Paul Jackson Jr., in addition to a wind musician.
“That unnamed record, I think will be a lot of spontaneous things,” he said.
Random Access Memories, released in 2013 as Daft Punk’s final work before the group split up in 2021, turned 10 years old last year, a milestone celebrated with an anniversary reissue, a behind-the-scenes docuseries covering the album’s production and a special “drumless edition” of the record.
Watch the complete interview with Daft Punk collaborator Quinn below.
Featured image from Daft Punk.
