"Infinity Repeating (2013 Demo)" is single from the 10th Anniversary edition of Random Access Memories. It was released on May 11, 2023, a day before the anniversary edition of the album was released.
It features vocals by Julian Casablancas, while The Voidz are also credited.
Background[]
Daft Punk and Casablancas previously collaborated on the song "Instant Crush".
The song has been previously teased by Casablancas in separate interviews, describing the song as "repetitive" in one instance.
“ | It’s cool, weird. It’s definitely not one tenth as pop-u-licious [sic] as "Instant Crush," but it’s just really weird. It’s like a song that just goes up. It’s like four half-steps up, moving as that on cycle, on repeat. And it’s super bizarre. And it sounds like jazz modern weird. It’s weirder than any song on the record that I know of. [2] | ” |
–Julian Casablancas, 2017 |
In a December 2020 interview with Youtuber Anthony Fantano (The Needle Drop), Casablancas described how the band presented two demos, comparing them to "Veridis Quo" on its repetitiveness.[3]
Press releases days before the music video premiere described the song as "the last Daft Punk song ever"[1][4], probably referring to it being the last song to be recorded, the last song to be released, or both.
Promotion[]
On April 26, 2023, Daft Punk revealed through their social media accounts a snippet of the song accompanied by a CGI visual of a skeleton walking forward on a 45-degree angle, and the hashtags #walkwithus and #infinitywalk, with the title "Infinity Repeating (feat. Julian Casablancas+The Voidz)", confirming the existence of the song according to the 'repeating' pattern described by Casablancas before.[5]The post also revealed the additional collaboration of The Voidz, a band Casablancas is a member of.
The video would be followed on May 5th by a 2D animation of a man this time in the style of Leonardo DaVinci's drawing Vitruvian Man. Then on May 6th, another video was published, this time another 2D hand-drawn, walking man in a suit and a pork-pie hat with a black-and-white palette. The following day, a fourth short video was released, a 3D humanoid robot walking underwater in a diver suite.
The song was the subject of an augmented reality experience around the world in collaboration with Snapchat titled "Daft Punk: Memories Unlocked".[6] Coordinates were released on Spotify's canvas feature, where small video snippets appear while the user listens to a song, as well on their website. These coordinates led to 10 cities in different countries, if attended, people would unlock a geo-activated lens that would show a walking animation from the music video, while the song plays.
Another feature, which was available worldwide, was made available where the user would be able to scan the artwork from Random Access Memories (either physical or digital, enlarged or small, standard edition or anniversary edition), and a 3D render of the glass-like helmets would appear, with the song "Horizon" playing. The user can then change the camera of their phone to face themselves and a filter of the same mask would appear in lieu of their face.[7][6]
A special event was held to celebrate the premiere of the music video at the Pompidou Center in Paris, France[1]
On May 12, 2023, the first episode of Memory Tapes was released, featuring an interview with Casablancas, explaining the composition and creative process behind "Instant Crush" and "Infinity Repeating", while also talking about their dissbandment. He noted that this "is [an] appropriate song to end Daft Punk on forever", jokingly adding "You can't handle the truth!" on the ambiguity of their separation.[4]
Music video[]
A music video was released through YouTube in its "premiere" feature.[1] It features a variety of different characters walking in a straight line, while the song plays. The video revisits the robot character from the song "Technologic" from Human After All. According to the video description, the video is divided into three acts.
It was directed by Warren Fu, who previously collaborated with both Casablancas and Daft Punk on various music videos.
“ | This project is especially dear to me not only because I was the mutual friend that introduced Julian to Guy Man and Thomas, but it is also the final music video for Daft Punk, like a lot of the robots’ music, I wanted to create something simple and hypnotic on the surface, that reveals more upon repeat listens and viewings.[6] | ” |
–Warren Fu, 2023 |
Media[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Daft Punk Premiering Unreleased Song at Paris’ Pompidou Center" on Pitchfork
- ↑ Julian Casablancas Says His Second Daft Punk Song Is "Super Bizarre" on Pitchfork
- ↑ Julian Casablancas INTERVIEW on fantano Youtube Channel. The link directs to the timestamp of the excerpt.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Daft Punk - Memory Tapes - Episode 1 - Julian Casablancas (Official Video) (6:55) on YouTube
- ↑ Tweet by Daft Punk on Twitter: "Infinity Repeating (2013 Demo) (feat. Julian Casablancas + The Voidz) Incl. in Random Access Memories 10th Anniversary Edition, out May 12th #walkwithus #Infinitywalk
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "See Daft Punk, Julian Casablancas’ ‘Infinity Repeating’ Video" on Rolling Stone.
- ↑ "Daft Punk: Memories Unlocked" on Snapchat Newsroom