- The not-so-secret secret about The Mole's As High as the Sky was the fact that the album—aside from massive single "Baby, You're the One"—didn't really work in isolation. Colin de la Plante crafted such a coherent mood over the course of its 11 tracks that it's hard to imagine "Alice, You Need Him" without "Hey Girl (I Feel So Good)" or "Knock Twice" not being followed up immediately by "When It Tastes So Good, You Deserve It."
Hearing "For the Lost," then, in isolation on the A-side of de la Plante's first release since As High as the Sky feels a little strange. It's not a bad track per se, it simply feels like it's missing something. "For the Lost" is an extended mood piece—nearly 12 minutes—that curls a looped bit of melody around the bottom end, secretes an open-ended bassline and a tidy little drum beat, amid other smoldering atmospherics. It's not necessarily meant to have a second gear, but it would likely benefit from one: de la Plante's commitment to its elements throughout is admirable, but misplaced. "For the Lost" is like running on a treadmill.
"There's Hope" offers up its titular noun in the form of more engaging elements and a less hands-off approach. The track is like one of As High as the Sky's up-tempo highlights in slow motion: You can hear the thrum of the guitar line, the strain of the sampled voice and the chunk of the drum hit in each loop. It sounds almost like a lesson in how AHatS was constructed, and is all the more addictive for it. "There's Hope," unlike "For the Lost," needs no complementary track. It stands on its own just fine.
Tracklist A For The Lost
B There's Hope