Cole Cuchna

Alright, so this new section is built from the same source material as the main loop, the introduction to I Love You More by George Duke.

Daft Punk rearranged the chord hits in this passage to create their own original sequence.

They start by grabbing the first chord heard at the very beginning of the song.

They then pitch this same sample down a half a step for the second chord.

The third chord is this one, which they repeat twice in rapid succession.

Finally, the second chord in the original song becomes the last chord in Daft Punk's progression, punctuating it with a quarter note triplet.

And that's how Daft Punk transformed this into this.

As we just heard, after that fantastic B section, Digital Love returns to its original full fidelity loop.

It's now been over a minute since the vocals disappeared, which I point out only to highlight how unusual this song structure has been.

The song is front-loaded lyrically.

Rather than unfolding the narrative across multiple verses, it told the entire story in one extended opening passage.

And then, the vocals vanish.

For most of the remaining runtime, the story continues instrumentally.

For most songwriters, this would be a risky move.

Once you establish vocals as the emotional anchor of a track, abandoning them altogether could very easily feel awkward or disorganized.

But Daft Punk are, of course, completely at home in instrumental storytelling.

The vocals disappeared and we've hardly noticed, because the music has continued to develop in compelling and unpredictable ways.

I mean, just listen to what happens next.

Without any warning, everything unexpectedly drops out and a brand new instrument suddenly steps into the spotlight.

What you're hearing here is a Wurlitzer electric piano, an electromechanical keyboard first introduced in the 1950s, but one that really took off in the late 60s and early 70s.