Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter removes helmet, revealing human face and new solo album

Daft Punk spent their tenure as the world’s formost robot-based house music duo under shiny chrome helmets. The anonymity was part of the mystique, allowing them to jump seamlessly between genres, perform around the world, and create a stable look that all music groups require. Some bands wear leather jackets; Daft Punk dressed like futuristic automatons looking to get down. The masks also gave the duo the coolest, least embarrassing headshot on Wikipedia. Note to anyone looking to become famous: Try masks.

However, now that the band has parted ways and new musical journeys await its two members, one of them is ready to jump into the social media fray and do a little face reveal. One half of the group, Thomas Bangalter is the first to disappoint fans with a look at his actual mug, albeit an artist’s representation of it. Per Vulture, illustrator Stéphane Manel posted an illustration of Bangalter as part of the announcement for Bangalter’s new record, Mythologies. And we don’t know how to say this, but he looks exactly how you’d expect a member of Daft Punk to look (e.g., like some guy). Nevertheless, gaze into the face long deprived [apologies for the extra step].

Mythologies hits stores on April 7. It is Bangalter’s first solo outing since 2003’s Outrage. As a solo artist, Bangalter also composed and performed the soundtrack to Gaspar Noé’s Irreversible. In 2018, Bangalter contributed a song to Noé’s film Climax.

So now that we know Bangalter is a regular degular dude with eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, will we ever get a look at the other half of Daft Punk? Guillaume Emmanuel “Guy-Manuel” de Homem-Christo also has an incredible Wikipedia photo, so we totally understand staying anonymous.