There's something pleasantly mysterious about Abel Tesfaye (a.k.a. The Weeknd). A 21 year-old out of Toronto, Canada, Tesfaye first released three tracks anonymously onto YouTube in late 2010, to relative success considering the humble circumstances. Four months later he would release six additional songs, plus the original three, in what would would become his first mixtape House of Balloons. Since then the mixtape has been featured on the final season of HBO's Entourage, promoted by several big names throughout the game, and shortlisted for the 2011 Polaris Prize. Talk about climbing the latter, though it's all in good reason.
The Weeknd creates smooth, sensual, and often times haunting compositions of stripped down R&B, laying vulnerable and illuminated after morosely drinking the night away. On the revealing "Wicked Games" Tesfaye confesses, "I love to watch you dance / Take you down another level / Get you dancing with the devil", and later "Bring your body baby, I could bring you fame / That's my motherfucking words to you", expressing an almost satirical view of the portrayal of women in trashy radio joints. His music justifies this, as it's simply too damn honest and full of soul to be anything but above his contemporaries. His unique sound fundamentally lies within the spooky quality flowing through much of the album, like the ghostly drones over "Calming Down", the fluttering breakdown of "Loft Music", and the bleak, black and white romanticism of "What You Need".
What House of Balloons manages to do best is mix that dwelling phantasm with engaging music that as heartfelt as it is fresh. It's not your typical contemporary R&B album, more a scatterbrain anticipation of where it's heading. Throughout the album there's less of a focus on structure, continually allowing itself enough time and energy to properly express its emotions, rather than fall victim to vacuum-packed reflections of tired ideas. Tesfaye's shattered imagination is the real deal, and so is his music. With House of Balloons, he's created the latest standard for R&B in the 21st century, and I'm confident in saying that it's one of the most impressive albums to come out of the genre in a long while.
[The Weekend Website]
[Stream/Download House of Balloons from The Weeknd]
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