Daft Punk, Pharrell groove in new 'Lose Yourself to Dance' video - Los Angeles Times
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Daft Punk, Pharrell groove in new ‘Lose Yourself to Dance’ video

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Los Angeles Times Pop Music Critic

Raise a Champagne flute to sparkly simplicity, for the notion that bliss can arrive from something so primitive as a groove, that sweat mopped up with Pharrell Williams’ shirt may be only a dance move away.

That’s the central theme to Daft Punk’s new video for “Lose Yourself to Dance,” the shimmering ode to the health benefits and human-spirit lifting qualities of coming alive on the dance floor. A clip that feels like a lost outtake from “The Midnight Special” circa 1975, it’s pretty straightforward: The helmeted French duo play keyboard and bass, guitarist and “Random Access Memories” collaborator Nile Rodgers strums a clean rhythm and a sunglassed Williams croons front and center.

The dance floor is filled, of course, but focus on the dancers’ fashion: 1970s caps and wide-lapeled leather jackets, white turtlenecks, spangled western shirts rule the floor, a long way from the T-shirted masses filling most spaces these days.

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As the clip progresses, the band is gradually revealed to be performing at the tip of a pyramid, a reference to their era-defining live set of the late ‘00s. This pyramid, though, consists not of flashing video screens but human disco dancers celebrating life, lost within music.

Basic stuff, sure. But there’s nothing wrong with something so simple as joy.

Here are the credits, in case you’re curious about those amazing jackets:

Directed by: Thomas Bangalter, Guyman de Homem-Christo, Warren Fu, Paul Hahn & Cedric Hervet
Produced by: Paul Hahn
Cinematography by: Thomas Bangalter
Edited by: Cedric Hervet
Wardrobe designer: Hedi Slimane for St. Laurent
Stylist: Nicolas Bru
Art director: Tino Schaedler

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