Daft Punk, the premier French production duo of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem Christo, single-handedly reinvigorated house music with their monstrous, near-perfect 1997 debut, Homework, which injected the scene with a youthful exuberance that portended hope for its future.

Then, unless you were paying close attention to the dance-music underground, following a world tour that year, Daft Punk essentially disappeared.

Although the pair were in fact keeping quite busy — Bangalter with his revered Parisian house imprint Roulé, which released one of 2000's biggest dancefloor tracks, his own "Together"; Homem Christo with his equally super-cool Crydamoure label — Daft Punk's proper momentous return is finally upon us, and it's a somewhat befuddling one. Discovery, the follow-up to Homework, has been hidden behind Fort Knox-like security, with its lead single, "One More Time," the only taste of what's to come.

Celebratory and polished to a smooth sheen where Homework was raw and gritty, "One More Time" began making the club rounds late last year, and it was an unmistakable signal that the new Daft Punk were over catering to the underground: They were ready for the big time. Though notoriously averse to publicity, they've already appeared on several magazine covers — including The Face, Urb and CMJ New Music Monthly — even though Discovery isn't out until March 13. The lions are definitely awaiting the feed.

Bangalter and Homem Christo have even concocted a marketing scheme worthy of pop megastardom, a fantasy in which the pair died at some point in the past two years but not before creating two robots capable of producing dance music. These robots clearly have a penchant for pop, as only four of Discovery's 14 tracks top the four-minute mark, as opposed to the sprawling epics of Homework, which featured only two proper songs shorter than four minutes.

The polish of "One More Time" has been applied throughout the album, with a pervading lightness and clarity of production that instantly recalls early '80s pop, complete with Vocoder vocals employed on nearly every track. "Digital Love," for example, is so sweet and innocent it wouldn't be out of place on a first-date mixtape. And "Voyager" is a sugary soundtrack to viewing Earth from outer space. The album's second single, "Aerodynamic," is a heavy-metal-style extended guitar solo with a bass-drum backdrop.

When the duo arrived for an interview earlier this month, they were outfitted in robot costumes, in line with their scenario. Via a scrolling LED readout on his robot helmet, Bangalter said Discovery was an amalgam of musical styles.

"We found out that heavy metal, disco, house and classical could mix well together," his readout flashed. "We have so many influences we can't really define where it all comes from."

Most of the album does in fact rock, although "One More Time," which features New Jersey singer/producer Romanthony on vocals, is one of only two straight-up house tracks — there's nary a syncopated hi-hat in sight. ("Too Long," the 10-minute epic closer, also with Romanthony on vocals, is the other.) Instead, the thumping cuts follow a sort of pop-dance formula that's heavy on the "drops" — of the beat, bassline, vocals or melody — that typify big dancefloor breakdowns, often occurring just past midway through a track and followed by a coda that subtly tweaks the groove.

"We didn't want to do the same thing as Homework," Bangalter said on his robot screen. "We wanted to have a compact album and innovate and experiment with shorter formats."

The songs that nail this template, including "High Life," "Face to Face" (with New Jersey producer Todd Edwards on vocals) and "Superheroes," are Discovery's strongest, but the momentum they create is often stymied by such '80s odes as "Something About Us" or "Short Circuit."

Transferring their innovation to the online realm, the duo will launch Daft Club (www.daftclub.com) in association with the release of the new album to make new material and remixes available to people who buy it. A credit card-style membership card will be included with each CD and vinyl copy of Discovery.

"Providing music and other surprises through the Daft Club is gonna be our main priority for this year," the Bangalter robot expressed electronically.