Ghostly International
Since 2010’s Cyanide Sisters EP, NY-born, LA-based Seth Haley has evolved his largely instrumental, concept-electronica with each release. Each Com Truise EP and album soundtracks the adventures of the world’s first robot astronaut, while Haley explores the outer limits of his sonic universe.
He categorises his sound as “mid-fi-synth-wave-slower-motion-funk” – and like the rest of the ‘cycle’, Iteration is an obsessively detailed marshalling of woozily detuned synths, effected 80s drum-machine fills, evolving arpeggios and otherworldly atmospherics. It’s a layered soundscape with depth and plenty of contrast, invoking a specific type of nostalgia for a pretty specific audience. Its ultimate appeal is the unique feeling it leaves you with – akin to a dreamy recollection of a theme from a long-abandoned console game, or a sci-fi film soundtrack from a worn VHS tape.
Just like the advanced AI floating alone in space he’s soundtracking here, Com Truise is out on his own, in a genre of one – taking the possibilities of 80s synthscapes into unchartered territory.
