Synth Fiction

As Com Truise, Seth Haley has made a conscious effort to blur the lines between hip hop synthesis and science fiction scores. The tropes inherent in the film genre soundtracks are an aesthetic that has been attractive to Haley since he was young, and his reinterpretations are both attempts at creating art and opening listeners to other worlds.

“We all have certain predispositions to be attracted to certain genres of art,” Haley states. “I can’t pinpoint how or when I truly fell in love with science fiction. I’m truly attracted to the technology side of things, the idea that someone had to envision how future technology would look and function. It really blows my mind. I try to translate my love for certain aesthetics into something sonically driven. I think people gravitate to my music for the floating through space ‘sci-fi’ feelings. I love that.”

The visual aesthetics of 1970s science fiction films are just as important as the sonic components for the creation of Com Truise. “[Films] are equally important in my mind,” Haley asserts. “Sometimes the music comes from the visuals and vice versa. I’m a trained designer so I have always tended to fall heavily on the visual side, but I try to maintain both elements at equal level.”

Com Truise’s latest opus, Wave 1, is a concept EP that is narrative driven, another idea that Haley holds dear. “It’s a continuation of a story. At the Wave 1 point of the story, based on the first android astronaut sent from earth to make contact with a distant civilisation, he has just finally reached the planet ‘Wave 1’. It is the soundtrack about his first reactions, thoughts, feelings towards this new civilisation. He can’t put his finger on it but this world isn’t much different than the earth he knows, yet, something isn’t right; it’s all a bit slanted and off-kilter.”

That said, songs like Mind on Wave 1 hold stronger, funk-based beats that show an evolution in the Com Truise sound. “That’s the Prince influence – he really made that LinnDrum flex,” Haley smiles. “I wanted to switch up the patterns, tempos, and just break up the syncopation a bit. I was becoming a little monotonous to myself. It felt logical to perpetuate the storyline for my music in that way.”

The live shows of Com Truise have become more structured as more intricate layers come into place. Haley’s love of analogue synthesisers makes playing live a complex experience, yet he pulls all the strings to make sure it’s a wholly immersive one.

“I’m a gear junkie; it’ll never subside. As far as incorporating these strange devices in the live set-up, it’s only going to get more complex for me up there. For the audience, it will become more of a conceptual journey performance. I have live-sequenced visuals by Transient throughout. I love being busy up on stage, I love the ability to manipulate everything on my own. The show will only continue to evolve.”