Com Truise

With only one full-length (last year's Galactic Melt), a few EPs and a healthy Internet presence under his belt, it may seem too early for Com Truise (the punny moniker of producer Seth Haley) to be releasing a rarities album, yet here it is. In Decay is 13 tracks of downtempo danceability that's just too repetitive by half. And while sometimes there can be beauty in repetition, as I'm sure we all learned from watching Groundhog Day, redemption can only be found if patterns are recognized and tweaked to a more productive end. This is the challenge with In Decay and most of Com Truise's output. His sonic ideas are circular lines constantly spiralling into themselves ― simple, looped melodies, a flourish here, a hazy sample there, lather, rinse, repeat ― but there's very little difference in tone to keep your attention. "Klymaxx" is staccato synths with an '80s b-boy backbeat, but it doesn't do enough to get you off (thus the dubious spelling?). "Controlpop" is a sleepy-eyed meandering that never really wakes up, while "Video Arkade" evokes none of the analog thrill of its (again, dubiously spelled) namesake. As this is a collection of unreleased material, perhaps these are just sonic sketches ― the lazy, daydreaming doodles on the front of your three-ring binder ― but, given the lack of differentiation in tone, mood and emotion both within In Decay and between the rest of Com Truise's catalogue, I wouldn't hold my breath.