In 2011, Seth Haley's Com Truise couldn't have been more of-the-moment. A vintage-synth freak with a nostalgic moniker diving headlong into the sounds of 1983? In that long, hazy comedown from 2009's summer of chillwave, Haley was practically popping a wheelie on the zeitgeist. He took full advantage, too, offering up the superb Cyanide Sisters EP and the almost-as-good Galactic Melt LP in the same calendar year. But, apart from 2012's soggy early-days comp In Decay, we've heard next to nothing from him in the interim. Wave 1, Com Truise's new seven-song EP, is the first in a planned series that, as Haley told DazedDigital, concerns "the world’s first Synthetic Astronaut on this journey to a planet—each release represents the next stage in his journey." The chrome-plated, pristine Wave 1 plants itself at the intersection of synth-funk, electro, and fussy 80s computer-pop. Haley, returning from a two-year absence, seems content to reemerge as a man out of time: unconcerned with the trends of the day, blissfully mining Reagan-era pop at its most meticulous.
Opener "Wasat" whirrs to a start like a spaceship preparing for hyperdrive. Just 15 seconds in, and it's all systems go: a punctilious synth stutters like a long-lost Bambaataa track while a couple more streak past in a flash of light. The needly high-register synth and burbling bass at the center of "Mind" are almost conversant, trading garbled interstellar transmissions atop the crackling of the drum machine. Haley's fastidious—forever searching for the perfect beat—and even his fizziest synth never seems to trail too far afield. In the past, his exacting approach has occasionally tipped over into rigidity. But on Wave 1, his chosen sonic touchstones—whether it's pre-Purple Rain Prince or Cupid and Psyche-era Scritti Politti—share his fondness for clean lines, sharp edges, and inorganic rhythms. Haley's fussiness persists, but on Wave 1, he comes by it honestly.
Wave 1 peaks with "Declination", a slick, bright-as-the-sun pop deconstruction with vocals from Ford & Lopatin's Joel Ford. Haley's never quite known what to do with vocals, but Ford's an ideal fit for the otherwise all-instrumental Wave 1, his roboticized falsetto sliding its way into the nooks and crannies of the bustling track, bringing some curious new shades to the all-pastel palette. Haley's never seemed particularly concerned with innovation; as Andrew Gaerig wrote in his review of In Decay, he's a "grid-worshipping…pure stylist," more interested in playing within the lines than expanding on them. By injecting a little human warmth into this carefully delineated, fiercely technical music, Ford does as much to push Wave 1's sound forward as Haley himself.
Apart from the the splattering "I Would Die 4 U" drum patterns sitting underneath "Miserere Mei", Wave 1's post-"Declination" tracks find Haley retreating into the tried-and-true: burbling bass, squelchy zero-gravity synths, blunt-ride rhythms. These songs are sleek and glorious-sounding, each squiggle and thump given its own space. But, by leaving no space for error, Haley also doesn't allow much room for feeling, and after a half an hour of vaccum-sealed rhythms, a skipped beat or a flubbed intro never sounded so right. After a few years of silence, Haley's still a stickler for detail, still more concerned with perfection than innovation, still mixing up "crisp" and "mechanical." But by burrowing down into a few key sounds rather than stiffly approximating a dozen-plus, the intermittently funky, unshakably finicky Wave 1 is a mostly welcome return.
