A vast and atmospheric piece of electronic minimalism, Mirage encompasses the changing states of the eponymous ballet – a ritual for 16 dancers conceived by choreographer Damien Jalet and contemporary artist Kōhei Nawa. Delivering a statement that feels both radical and accessible, attuned to the elements, Thomas Bangalter takes a sculptural approach to sound and music in the lineage of Iannis Xenakis. The cofounder of Daft Punk continues to carve a personal path grounded by experimentation as a mode of performance and the pleasure of collaboration.
Created for the Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, where the piece had its world premiere in the spring of 2025, Mirage is the fourth collaboration between Damien Jalet and Kōhei Nawa. The piece is elegiac and mysterious, seemingly setting up a ritual for immemorial times where bodies go through various states and materials, alternately deities emerging from the bowels of the earth, fleeting forms fading into the mist, and otherworldly entities caught up in shimmering rain. The choreographer and visual artist workshopped the visual material in the big studio where Nawa conducts his research in Kyoto. Over the months, Thomas Bangalter observed this lab work remotely to build up its sonic counterpart. Composed almost independently from the choreography, the piece dovetails with the visual and atmospheric qualities of the scenography, highlighting its salient features while never feeling redundant. In the process, it becomes a recorded work that stands on its own
Thomas Bangalter’s Mirage unfolds in 8 movements shifting back and forth between sound design and music. The long march at the start – a metronomic rhythm throbbing with sub-bass and drones – segues into more melodious ripples, a sudden polyrhythmic flare-up, scintillations conjuring soft Japanese percussions, the melancholy of a breath that might be a whale or an organ song. Each variation of this soundtrack to a desolate world, a pre-history or post-Apocalypse world, exudes a raw and delicate beauty. Tapping into the elements or their memory, Mirage is a visceral and poignant work resulting from a deeply experimental process.
To draw – literally – the volumes and outlines of the piece, Bangalter built on thousands of hours over the last 20 years polishing his compositional skill on a graphics tablet. Following an approach both technology-driven and radically human, the composer searched, experimented and recorded material in the same breath, relying on the spontaneous movement of his hands. What we hear or think we hear throughout Mirage doesn’t result from programming work or sound banks but instead originates from drawn points and shapes between the horizontal and vertical axes of a synth oscillator. On the canvas, Bangalter draws the minute details of the elements – crackling fire, a river, glittering specks – as well as the images that immediately evoke Japan in his mind’s eye. Highly expressive rumbles and chimes materialize as he varies the parameters through the recording. In a process evocative of musique concrète, the composer carved the sound material, editing dozens of hours of recordings. Made from splices, juxtapositions and layerings, Mirage is like an acoustics-free electroacoustic work continuing the lineage of Iannis Xenakis (1922-2001), both as a pioneer of graphic composition tools and an artist inspired by organic shapes and natural dynamics. As it turns out, the French-Greek composer is among those that shaped the story of the Erato label, a fertile home for contemporary artists and ballet music.
The minimalism of Mirage is not based on serialism or repetition. Considering time as a change of state from an atmospheric or spatial rather than a linear and compartmentalized standpoint, Bangalter addresses the ritualistic and solemn dimension of music. His visual art approach to matter and its sensory aspect lies in a deep appreciation of art as a mystical experience.
Building a new bridge between music and sound design and erasing the mark of technology for a very organic outcome, Mirage is also testament to the direction Thomas Bangalter has taken lately. After the virtual high of billions of views accumulated through songs he has produced and co-written, the ex-Daft Punk pursues a desire to work in the more ephemeral yet more tangible reality of the performing arts and contemporary art installations. Driven by a keen interest in collaborative experiences, research, and uncharted boundaries.
Vincent Théval Translated by Jean-Charles Ladurelle | 
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