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Toronto singer Abel Tesfaye, who performs as The Weeknd, dropped the highly anticipated final instalment in his mixtape trilogy, Echoes of Silence, on Thursday morning. Ever since The Weeknd's first mixtape, House of Balloons, released in March, ...
Comments Email Twitter inShare0Toronto singer Abel Tesfaye, who performs as The Weeknd, dropped the highly anticipated final instalment in his mixtape trilogy, Echoes of Silence, on Thursday morning. Ever since The Weeknd?s first mixtape, House of Balloons, released in March, the buzz has been building for Tesfaye?s moody, minimalist sound and has resulted in a Polaris award nomination as well his work being mentioned on several year end best of lists (including the Post?s).
With his third effort, Tesfaye goes even darker, from the almost completely black album cover barely showing the profile of a woman?s face to the somber, lonely lyrics focusing on dysfunctional relationships.
That said, the production is also some of richest, especially on album opener D.D., in which Tesfaye impeccably channels Michael Jackson, if M.J. sang about a cheating girlfriend named Dirty Diana. It?s not until the fourth track, XO/The Host, that the production goes back to the minimalist sound The Weeknd has been noted for, as it switches up the tempo mid-song and holds that quiet, melancholy mood for the rest of the album.
On Initiation, Tesfaye?s voice is altered in both tone and tempo, sounding like one of the Chipmunks on one end, the narrator for every slasher film trailer on the other. It sounds campy, but the trick works, lending the track an air of eeriness.
If The Weeknd?s first two mixtapes (Thursday was released in August) were about life at and after the party, then Echoes is definitely on par with what his friend and collaborator Drake has been on for so long ? the loneliness of trying to find the right one. ?I?ve been alone for almost all my life, what makes you think you can ever do me right?? he asks on Same Old Song, or on Next, he addresses the sudden attention he?s been receiving from the opposite sex: ?You just want me cus I?m next.?
Fortunately for Tesfaye, no matter how lonely he is, he definitely has a promising career ahead of him. If he can complete a trilogy of mixtapes of this sound and quality all in one year, who knows what he can do when he finally/inevitably signs to a major label.
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