Com Truise

New York-born, Los Angeles-based producer Seth Haley produces “slow-motion funk” — warped, bass-heavy tracks that are sludgy but leavened with bright synthesizer melodies — under the name Com Truise. Using an arsenal of analog and digital synths, his music blends new wave and cinematic influences with sophisticated downtempo beat patterns. Touring and releasing music frequently, he’s found favor among fans of synthwave, chillwave, and indie electronic. Beginning with 2010′s Cyanide Sisters, his increasingly wide-screen releases followed the saga of a “synthetic astronaut” named Com Truise. While the saga ended with 2017′s Iteration, Haley continued using the moniker, returning with Persuasion System in 2019. Aside from his main releases, he’s also drawn from his extensive archive of early productions for 2012′s In Decay and 2020′s In Decay, Too. 2023′s Brokendate revisited an enduring favorite from his catalog, including a version featuring Doja Cat. Com Truise’s first release was the 2010 EP Cyanide Sisters, issued digitally through AMDISCS. Ghostly International gave it a proper release in January 2011 and added four tracks. Two months later, Ghostly issued Haley’s Fairlight, a three-track digital release, which acted as a teaser for the full-length Galactic Melt. When the album came out in June 2011, Haley had remixed several artists, including Neon Indian (“Sleep Paralysist”), Twin Shadow (“Castles in the Snow”), and Daft Punk (“Encom, Pt. 2”). The download-only In Decay, a compilation of previously unreleased material, was released by Ghostly in July 2012. A month later, he was part of Adult Swim’s Singles Program with the download-only track “Chemical Legs.” After a handful of remixes, including work for Sally Shapiro (“What Can I Do”) and Bloodgroup (“Mysteries Undone”), Wave 1, another colorful EP, was released on Ghostly in February 2014. In Decay was given a vinyl issue later in the year. Com Truise returned in 2016 with an EP, Silicon Tare, and the following year he issued his second official album, Iteration. More refined than his previous works, the release was touted as the final chapter in the Com Truise saga. He remained active, however, and after switching up his workstation a bit, he resumed activity with Persuasion System in 2019. In Decay, Too, a set of early, non-album cuts from Haley’s vaults, was released in 2020. Galactic Melt was reissued in 2022. One of its tracks, “Brokendate,” had been sampled by Doja Cat for a song called “4 Morant (Better Luck Next Time),” which became a viral hit on TikTok. Years after it first surfaced online, the song was given an official release on Com Truise’s 2023 EP Brokendate, which also included the original track and other alternate versions. ~ Andy Kellman & Paul Simpson