Cyanide Sisters by Com Truise

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. The Cyanide Sisters EP, Com Truise's first official release, was first available as a free download through AMdiscs in June of 2010; Ghostly's remastered and extended reissue of Cyanide Sisters nearly 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, the Cyanide Sisters EP 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's Cyanide Sisters EP is a complete work, meticulously conjuring nostalgia for its multifarious influences while filtering them through a modern aesthetic for younger, hungrier ears.

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