If you've been following the summer music blogosphere or Drake's Twitter, or if you happen to frequent the Toronto club scene, chances are that you've caught a listen of the nocturnal, electric and spaced-out voice of The Weeknd on his breakthrough album "House of Balloons."
The Weeknd is the stage name of Abel Tesfaye, the 21-year-old Canadian mastermind behind one of the year's darkest projects: a nine-song mixtape released for free online in March.
At its core, "House of Balloons" is an R&B record with slow guitar and bass melodies swooning under Tesfaye's enigmatically female voice, which soars and whispers mysterious sweet nothings and morning-after recollections. While R&B historically tends to be more thematically focused on vulnerability in politics, love and self-image, The Weeknd paints pictures of drugged-out lofts and clubs, filled with over-confident, highly emotional young lovers, viciously colliding with one another. "House of Balloons" pulls a tricky number in combining the most affectionate vocal and tonal qualities of traditional R&B with the pure, explicit essence of hardcore rap lyrics: the result is a powerful, strange dance mixtape.
I enjoy listening to the album as a tale of one night. From the opening track "High For This" to "The Party & The After Party" toward the middle of the night, the album ultimately ends with "The Knowing," an aggressive, resentful ballad about a partner's infidelity. To get a better visual on the world at work here, look no further than the music video for one of the standout tracks, "What You Need," which documents the wasteland of a loft long after the party has peaked.
While critics have compared The Weeknd to artists such as R&B star The-Dream and R. Kelly, the tracks on "House of Balloons" don't sound like the pop hits The-Dream has produced nor are there any characters or punch lines of "Trapped in the Closet;" in this nocturnal world, there seem to be no smiles and no identities.
While Tesfaye's tales of debauchery keep listeners focused and enticed—"bring the drugs baby I can bring my pain / bring your body baby I can bring you fame"—some of the most arresting moments on this record are when Tesfaye lets his voice move wordlessly, sometimes swelling, howling and screaming for minutes with just a beat and chord progression. These moments (see "The Party & The After Party") bear resemblance to the female vocal solo on Pink Floyd's "The Great Gig in the Sky," where so much is said without the pressure of picking the right words to say; it's sex, it's pain, it's post-adolescent transgression in musical form.
"House of Balloons" is an eclectic album, with samples from Aaliyah, post-punk rebels Siouxsie & the Banshees and modern day dream pop icons Beach House. With these pieces, the album feels strikingly modern, as well as a bit emotionally nostalgic with the force of what could be a new sound for R&B.
Back in March, however, nobody knew The Weeknd. "House of Balloons" was one of millions of mixtapes circulating on the Internet. But The Weeknd stands as an example of how rapid online press can function, of who you know and who knows you, and who tweets or blogs about you, can make or break your reception.
A few awards, an appearance on "Entourage," and over 100,000 Facebook likes later, The Weeknd has achieved success, and with a recently released sophomore mixtape, "Thursday", doing just as well, his newfound audience awaits his third mixtape, entitled "Echoes of Silence."