New Jersey’s Seth Haley sci-fi synth aficionado has returned with a five-track prelude to the last chapter of his Com Truise odyssey, Silicon Tare.
The EP forms the third part of his sci-fi concept, following the odyssey of the character Com Truise — the world’s first synthetic astronaut — which began with the debut record Galactic Melt back in 2011 (although second release In Decay was not included in this narrative, being more of a compilation of older material and rarities). At the end of 2014’s Wave 1 EP the space-age explorer reaches a simulacrum of planet Earth and makes contact with its native Wave 1 colony. Things complicate though, as we are told: “He falls in love; there is a war coming. A story that began in hope and dreams of discovery ends on an uncertain note.
320 kbps | 53 MB UL | MC ** FLAC
Change is in the air.” Silicon Tare continues from here, and forms the prelude to the next full-length, which is intended to conclude the saga.
Of course, this narrative is in Haley’s head — well, there’s no Daft Punk Interstella 5555-esque visual accompaniment — so the less cosmologically imaginative listeners will need to just go with him a little bit on this one. Musically it’s classic Com Truise, proving itself again to be a quintessential sonic paean to 1980s digital art with what he calls his “mid-fi synth wave, slow-motion funk”.
It’s a little more energetic than previous material though, which has tended to be more paced with its classic 4/4 kick drum ever-present, and with a lot going on at once it makes for a more interesting listen. “Forgive”, for instance, is relentlessly kinetic with its 80’s techno style offbeat-heavy rhythm. “Diffraction”, which dropped in February as the lead single, is as effervescent as a Berocca in a San Pellegrino. A personal highlight though is the EP’s self-titled track, where the relationship between the low, bass-thuds and the glistening high notes are at their most entangled and emotive.
Historically, the Com Truise EPs have generally been more warmly received than his full-lengths, which in some ways is natural given that Haley sticks within a heavily stylised form of music. In the same way that, albeit seemingly paradoxically, a short-story can give more room to experiment than in a novel, brevity can be a blessing for Haley and Silicon Tare has given him room to deviate — if only slightly. It’s a very strong release, energetic and intense, and promises a high-octane finale.