Daft Punk are back! Possibly? The mysterious French electro act, who have been dormant album-wise since 2005’s Only Human, appeared out of the blue during an advert break for Saturday Night Live at the weekend, fueling speculation that the duo were previewing new material from their alleged new album.

Daft Punk’s canon may be limited – three albums between 1997 and 2005 – but their influence on dance music cannot be done justice with words, the group’s futuristic house sounds that appeared on the 1997’s Home influencing a huge number of movements within electronic music for the next decade and beyond. Amid reports they're returning in 2013, a short, 15 second clip featuring nothing than the iconic Daft Punk logo and the pair’s famous headwear appeared in the middle of the SNL broadcast, with a short, funky loop playing in the background. Was this new music? And if so what does it mean? Will it be on the new album, supposedly out in May? What about the direction it could mean for them? The clip is certainly less dancefloor driven than some of their previous material, though there’s plenty of energy in its bouncy motif.

One thing that does seem apparently confirmed from it, is that Chic’s legendary guitarist Nile Rodgers might well have played the hook on it, the axe-man re-tweeting several people who’d suggested that it was in fact him. So when can we expect a more thorough preview of the new album? We know they signed a deal with Columbia Records in January, but is all this just setting more questions up about the pair? Most likely yes.

Re-live Daft Punk classic One More Time