Com Truise – Cyanide Sisters

While many of Com Truise’s contemporaries mine nostalgia as an end unto itself, the Princeton, NJ bedroom producer (aka Seth Haley) recombines older musical forms as a means of expressing something deeper and more ambitious, building a carefully conceived picture of the artist’s vibrant inner world. TheCyanide SistersEP, Com Truise’s first official release, was first available as a free d o w n l o a d through AMdiscs in June of 2010; Ghostly’s remastered and extended reissue ofCyanide Sistersnearly doubles its tracklist, making good on months of blog and music-critic enthusiasm and delving deeper into Seth Haley’s synth-savvy project. With Com Truise’s proper full-length on the way, and a string of high-profile remixes for Neon Indian and Twin Shadow already in the can, theCyanide SistersEP is an electrifying introduction to a prodigious new talent.

A designer by trade, Haley has been making music with his collection of analogue equipment for nearly a decade and it shows.Cyanide Sisters’beauty lies somewhere between IDM, ’80s synth-pop, Factory Records, classic Italo disco synthesizers, and glitch electronica, soaking its opening title track with thick, damp ambience and a slow, chunky drum-machine groove. Soon, the sound dries off, lightening into a suite of sun-drenched textures and constantly unraveling song structures – a sonic imprint that only grows and blossoms as the album progresses. The vocals that echo throughout “Pyragony” bounce from the ethereal to the robotic, always melting into a slow-churned blend of melodic fire and digital molasses. Despite his ever-present melancholy, Com Truise is playful throughout, dusting “Norkuy” with disco-ball flecks and putting the top down for the convertible cruise of “Space Dust.” The EP closes with “Innerfacer,” a trippy synth experiment (and newly added bonus track) that revisits the vibe of the release’s opener and brings the record full circle. Even in expanded form, Com Truise’sCyanide SistersEP is a complete work, meticulously conjuring nostalgia for its multifarious influences while filtering them through a modern aesthetic for younger, hungrier ears.