[Internasjonal]

For his first release of 2009, Colin de la Plante heads from his native Canada further north to Norway and Prins Thomas’ Internasjonal imprint, home of many slices of cosmic space disco goodness. While the sound and construction are consistent with The Mole’s recent work, there is a nod to Thomas’ style, as well — a subtle drop in tempo, a seriously spaced-out atmosphere, and a longer-than-usual running time. After all, when in Rome…

“For The Lost” builds a deep, reverberating stomp and an echoed series of shimmers into an increasingly complex rhythmic and percussive base, eventually fusing into a swirling, psychedelic melange evolving at what might seem to be half-speed. In fact, the whole track sounds a bit like it is running on a track of maple syrup; just slightly slow, sticky, and sweet. The actions are fairly minimal, depending more on an overall feel than any single defining moment (or melody for that matter) with only subtle reminders to dance while staring pie-eyed up at the ceiling. It’s a masterful journey of a track, one that unfolds slowly but reveals itself to have some wonderful things to show us along the way. Repeated listens reveal more treats, as the track’s nuances shine through.

On the flip, “There’s Hope” answers by keeping the tempo slo-mo, but anchoring itself around a two-note riff answered by a thundering handclap, and eventually a whole series of rhythmic elements: a funky guitar loop, short vocal sample, and several layers of percussion. Far closer to de la Plante’s deep-house mode than the A-side, it serves as a perfectly balanced heavier response to “From The Lost”‘s ethereal lift. Both tracks show that de la Plante can seemingly conquer just about any genre to which he applies his game.