Iteration (album)

Iteration is the second studio album by American electronic musician Seth Haley as Com Truise, released on June 16, 2017, by Ghostly International.

Iteration is the last of a series of records by Seth Haley, Galactic Melt (2011), Wave 1 (2014), and Silicon Tare (2016), that tell the story of a space traveller named Com Truise.

[1] It wasn't until Haley had lived in the city for a year and a half[1] that he changed the way he produced his material, focusing on being in an area with more "open space",[3] that being Burbank,[7] and using outboard equipment instead of computer software.

[1] As the album's official press release claimed how this excitement influenced the tone of the record, "By embracing the music's inherent nature and peerless qualities, Iteration finds new avenues of expression in its vivid, familiar surroundings.

"[1] Iteration begins with "...Of Your Fake Dimension", a prelude of the album's story consisting of a Cocteau Twins-style guitar and sounds from the Elektron Analog Keys synthesizer.

[8] "Propagation", a slow-tempo ballad about being free from an otherwise oppressed society, consists of an ARP Odyssey bass, chords performed by a Dave Smith OB6, and sounds from a Yamaha DX7.

The Eurorack is also used to perform synthesized brass alongside "gliding" Prophet-6 sounds and textures from the Teenage Engineering OP-1 on "Usurper", a song about the weaknesses of leaders of a society and the ability of citizens to end oppression.

Written and directed by Will Joines and Karrie Crouse, the video stars Trieste Kelly Dunn as an "idealized wife-bot" who "slowly becomes self-aware" and murders its owner.

[24] As Wallace stated, "[Haley] displays a complete mastery of his craft, buil[d]ing up electronic sounds in an alternate language ample enough to express shifting moods and paint a series of tableaux.

"[20] He highlighted the record's "moderation" in terms of its use of elements of 1980s synthesizer music, writing that "Haley injects plenty of hooks and sonic layers on Iteration, but it never seems overstuffed.

"[18] Mixmag's Andrew Rafter was positive towards Iteration but felt that it should've had more songs with dark moods like "Syrthio" and the LP's title track.