The context for this review has changed dramatically. I first drafted it just one day before Daft Punk announced their separation after a 28 year career, 4 studio albums, 2 live albums and a film score. The news of course was widley covered by the music press and commented by fans all over the world. It is a big announcement because the influence of Daft Punk in electronic, dance and pop music at large can’t be understated and if there’s a moment where the duo cemented their reputation is 2001’s Discovery.

One of the core ideas that give retrospective reviews meaning and purpose is that the album being subjected to an anniversary re-evaluation has kept or increased its value over time or at least crafted a different kind of importance for itself or the artist. The review itself sometimes feeds in the thought that the work in question is timeless and most likely tends to remind you that it stood the test of time.

Discovery challenges this premise. Yes, Daft Punk’s second and greatest album (not that it has many contenders) relish itself in sounds of the past while its songs push deep into the coming decades. The album is unique; an ubiquitious gem in popular music’s of the 21st century, and yes it is relevant today. However, since it grooved its way into our ears, Discovery makes the 20 years that have passed feel like an instant. Haven’t we always listened to it? Once you hit play, the time you’re in loses all meaning.

Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Cristo took disco, pop, and 70s soft rock and morphed it into a pristine mix of tunes. Defying and at the same time defining electronic music by giving heart and soul into each track, while maintaining the record, consistent, interesting and most of all, fun. The more punchy tracks, effortlessly tailor-made for the dance floor, are hooks in song form. The slow moments are mellow and sweet but never cloying. The album’s bright and affecting immediacy is undeniable.

‘Crescendolls’ will inevitably make your muscles work and transport you to a place Daft Punk actually imagined in the album’s companion animated film Interstella 5555, which has gained as much attention and praise as Discovery itself. ‘Harder Better Faster Stronger’, is a seminal work in this century club music, famously sampled by Kanye West. Its wordplay and constant development make every return to the entitled words feel earned and propulsive. ‘Digital Love’ is, I would say, a colorful ballad poised to soundtrack a generation of people and their incessant look for meaningful affection in the era of information.

It must be a common thing to a bunch of millenials to have dedicated ‘Something About Us’ to a significant other, or at least having the thought of that person run through their minds while listening to the song’s affective melody and earwormy bass-line. This widespread appreciation to a gentle cut that comes in the middle of Discovery that became a staple of a certain modern mood serves as a prime example of the album’s universal reach.

All these fruitful exercises in dance music of amazing production, have become stalwarts even if Bangalter and Homem Cristo deliver them in an unattached way. The processed voices are intentionally robotized, something that has become one of the most recognized aspects of Daft Punk’s work. It speaks volumes of the duo’s talent that, surrounded by star-reaching sounds that soundtrack the most earthly activities, their voices sound as human as they can be. In those voices you can hear a generation’s plead for escape and release, a mission statement that Discovery manages to keep incendiary to this day.

In 2013, 8 years after Daft Punk released Human After All, and 6 after their last tour (now ever) they returned with Random Access Memories, an album that whole-heartedly paid homage to the music of the past. A love letter to the sounds that made the duo develop a religious admiration for music, specifically electronic dance music. Now, that album works well also as a swan song, a project that closes their discography full circle. Discovery, on the other hand, achieved this technicolor and decade-spanning approach to Daft Punk’s sound in a more natural and effortless way. By trying to create something as widescope and extremely effective in its ability to envelop and inspire, Homem Cristo and Bangalter, recorded an unintentional inflection point in music. Discovery shines in its anachronism but its larger-than-life purity remains unparalleled, somehow forever young. Perpetually inviting everyone to play it one, more, time.

At last the long wait is over, the weight is off my shoulders
I’m taking all control, yeah
My, my mind is set so free, I’m where I want to be
To get the best of me