For Seth Haley, the DJ/producer known as Com Truise, putting together compilations like 2012’s In Decay and this 2020 follow-up, In Decay, Too, is a journey down memory lane. “Many of these songs are extremely old, so I have to go back and figure out when I wrote them, where I was at the time, why I’d titled certain files certain things,” he tells Apple Music. “But it’s fun to rescue them. These demos are essentially decaying—if I don’t release them now, they'll never come out—so it feels good to give them a home.” Haley isn’t usually a sentimental songwriter; most of his albums are based on far-out concepts, full of fictional characters and other worlds. But the tracks here hit much closer to home. “I’d always sworn off writing about my personal life,” he says. “But these songs seemed to indirectly reflect what I was going through over the past eight years, so they are particularly nostalgic for me.” The songs trace different periods in his life—moves from New Jersey to Brooklyn to LA to now Orlando, Florida—and capture moments of calm between endless gigs and tours. “I often didn’t have the time or energy to sit and write a record,” he says. “These are the sprinkly tracks I'd write after getting home from a long tour, when you're trying to materialize the inspiration and be alone with your thoughts.” Here, the veteran chillwave producer revisits the moments that inspired each track. Zeta “When I first started writing music years and years ago, I got really into drum ’n’ bass. When I got really bored of it, I got super into ambient music. Then, when I missed using heavier percussion, I amped it back up with the Com Truise project, which is one of my later aliases. But I missed doing ambient music, so ‘Zeta’ was my way of taking a break from the drums. The track is from 2012, and it really was just an exploration, a riff. It was from a time when I was trying to be less influenced by sampling, trying to push myself creatively to use the tools at my disposal instead of borrowing from others.” Compress—Fuse “This is the newest track on the record from early 2019, and it represents the direction of where I'm headed and what I’m experimenting with sonically these days. Basically, I started to rebuild a lot of my production process—just toying with different equipment setups, recording methods, techniques, trying to make everything a bit more hi-fi. A little brighter, with more headroom, not dense and saturated. I've been pretty ‘less is more’ lately with my methods.” Chemical Legs “This track is from 2012, and it's one of the only songs I’ve made that uses my own vocals. I mean, they're very hidden, kind of just an element. But it was a big step for me.” Reciprocity “I wrote this somewhere between 2014 and 2015 when I’d gotten really into Minimal Wave stuff, so this was my take on it. It's one of the most upbeat tracks in the compilation, and it doesn’t totally fit in. But I’ve always, always really liked it. And when I put together the final tracklist, everybody—the Ghostly team, my manager, everyone—really wanted it included. It shows something different.” She Melts “I started this song before I started Galactic Melt, back in 2009. I was working in advertising and living in New Jersey and sort of lost in this failing relationship. I could feel it slipping through my fingers, that sort of thing. So the song is really based on that breakup. There's a little plucking guitar at the end of the song, and the inspiration was U2’s ‘Mysterious Ways.’ I couldn’t tell you why, but it’s burned in my brain.” Trying Times for the Indirect “This is about a person I was with who had to make a huge change in their life—a very difficult decision. They were essentially stepping into their own space and recreating themselves. I’m not great at talking about these things, because my other records are not overly personal. I like hiding behind a made-up narrative. I consider myself to be a private person, so it took me a long time to be comfortable with this industry—the criticism, the exposure, things like that. I’ve been reluctant to be too vulnerable. So some of my stories might be told from a distance. On a separate note, though, this was the first song that I used the Oberheim Xpander on, which has become one of my favorite synths.” “I started this song before I started Galactic Melt, back in 2009. I was working in advertising and living in New Jersey and sort of lost in this failing relationship. I could feel it slipping through my fingers, that sort of thing. So the song is really based on that breakup. There's a little, plucking guitar at the end of the song, and the inspiration was the U2’s ‘Mysterious Ways.’ I couldn’t tell you why, but it’s burned in my brain.” I Dream (For You) “My dog passed away years ago, in 2011, after a long battle with cancer. I had been with her at my folks’ place and had to leave to go to Europe. I remember I was on the plane flying to Berlin and fell asleep. At one point, I woke up and had tears in my eyes, just randomly in the middle of the night. I thought it was weird but went back to sleep. When I landed I called my mom to let her know I’d made it okay, and sure enough, the dog had passed away in the night. So that song is for her.” Surf “I came up with this little harmony when I was in Hawaii. I’d gone out in 2013 to play a show, and the promoter’s family owned a big mansion. It was literally a big pink mansion on the beach. It was just incredible. And when you go out there to play, since it's such a journey, they invite you to stay for a while. So I stayed for like a week. I would get up in the morning and sit on the patio, staring at the ocean, and write music.” Galactic Melt “Obviously this is the title track from my album Galactic Melt. But it was never digitally released. The only way you could get it, for a long time, was if you bought the vinyl. It was almost a bonus secret track. But over the years, people have always been barking at me about why I haven’t properly released it and why it isn’t more widely available. So here you go.” Post Hawaii “This was another track from my Hawaii phase. It was really such an impactful trip. I had never been there, and I was just blown away. It was probably one of my favorite trips I've ever gone on. I know that may not sound too special, but it was a big inspiration to me, and I like that I can hear it on this track.” Peach (6809) “This is a song about the Motorola 6809 microchip that they introduced in 1978. It was used in the Fairlight CMI series II synthesizer workstation. The Fairlight was one of the first sampling computers; it's a digital audio workstation. And you can see it in old, like, Depeche Mode videos. It was probably one of the first machines to record found sounds, things like rocks falling.” False Ascendancy “I wrote this after I’d gotten home from Hawaii but only gave it a proper name recently. The nomenclature that I use to keep my tracks organized is pretty dry and specific, like ‘CT01’ or whatever. And it’s been a heck of a year in the political landscape, so I decided to name this ‘False Ascendancy.’ That's pretty much all I really want to say about that. That’s about as publicly political as I get.” Constant Fracture “This is one of the few songs that I started and finished when I lived in Los Angeles. I was there for four years and really had a tough time being productive—actually finishing work. I’m not sure why—I didn't really do all that much—but I had a really hard time focusing. I felt unsure of myself, far from my family, and just disconnected. But this was one of the songs that I wrote while I was there, and I’m proud of it.” Trajectory “This is another ambient soundscape that I wrote years ago, but I'm actually thinking I want to do an ambient record soon. I’ve done a lot of these intro-y, outro-y, flowy little tracks over the years, but they’ve never really had a home. I’ve started to wonder if it’s time to take them more seriously. Calling it ‘Trajectory’ leaves things open-ended, looking into the future. The pandemic has been interesting for me, being a touring musician. It’s made me realize that I’m actually a homebody. I miss playing shows, of course, but I got some health news recently that means I have to take it relatively easy. As long as I can tour and stay healthy, I’ll try to keep doing it. It’s difficult, but I’ll try.”