The Weeknd, House of Balloons
Reviewed by: Chris Bosman
In some ways, the bar has never been lower for music to make the jump from low budget bedroom production to indie music (or mainstream music) success. Where not even ten years ago, labels and PR firms were the gatekeepers to the castle, that responsibility has now shifted to the innumerable music blogs that dot the virtual landscape. These bloggers don’t respond to the old forms of PR, tending to do their own exploring, listening to things that catch their ear and their eye with interesting sounds and an engaging narrative, rather than a solid RIYL list. Because of this, mystery and relative anonymity have become cornerstones of Effective Blogosphere Marketing Campaigns 101. Need proof? Look at the viral campaign behind iamamiwhoami; for a brief period last year it was the most talked about music story on web sites ranging from Gorilla vs. Bear to MTV. Or look at Odd Future, whose violent lyrics and vicious production ranked even with the (now possibly solved) mystery of where their best pure rapper, Earl Sweatshirt, was. Or take a look at the Weeknd, who Chris Polley excellently summed up last month.
We know now that the Weeknd is essentially one dude named Abel Tesfaye, but back when his first songs were heard, up to when his debut mixtape House of Balloons originally dropped a month or so ago, the only identifying marks of a Weeknd track were the missing vowel in the name and the Elliott Smith-esque XO mark that opened their videos. It gave bloggers an immediate hook; a mystery to solve. Still there’s some discussion about whether or not the Weeknd moniker includes producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo, and so the hype machine behind the mystery presses on. Like Odd Future’s reluctance to talk about Earl Sweatshirt’s location, the Weeknd have not been knocking down doors trying to set the record straight about their own identity.
Of course, none of this would much matter if the music wasn’t good. And House of Balloons is fucking good. In many ways 2011 has been the year of R&B’s re-emergence. Artists have been picking up where uber-producer The-Dream has left off over the past five years, working his bizarro, soulful take on the genre and mixing it up in a variety of ways. How to Dress Well’s Tom Krell evaporated it, turning in a ghostly, haunting take on the 90s classics he was an inspired by. Odd Future’s Frank Ocean stayed true to those roots, injecting them with a ridulously earnest personality that oozed charisma. James Blake swirled together his classical music roots, his electronic music interests, and classic soul vocal stylings into a stunning debut. And now, on House of Balloons, Tesfaye uses his incredible vocal instrument and ear for idiosyncratic slow jam productions to turn in a sexual, visceral, and blunted take that borrows from all three, yet still remains undeniably unique.
From the first moment of opening track “High For This,” where ebbing synths join hip-hop drums from a party next door, and Tesfaye’s winding vocals expertly slither through both, it’s clear that the Weeknd understand dichotomy. The chorus is about as vibrant as such things get, as shuddering electro pulses give the track an extra gear, while the verses are sensually remorseful. You can’t decide if Tesfaye’s suggestion that “You’ll wanna be high for this” is an invitation to join in on the festivities or escape the experience. Maybe it’s both. Second track “What You Need” is the tune that’s received the most press, which seems odd as the group’s most striking component– Tesfaye’s voice– is obscured behind whatever walls were in front of Julian Casablanca’s mic on the first Strokes record. “What You Need” does, however, allow the deft and underrated production come to the forefront, putting its clever craft inside your head for the rest of the album’s fifty-some minutes.
Truthfully, you could pick apart any of these ten tracks individually, pointing out their various layers and emotional nuances ad naseum. There’s the title track, where disconcerting sound effects and dissonant chord resolution belay the track’s undeniable Top 40 aspirations, or the ambient, rainy day sex-as-romance-as-drugs-as-money-sex of “The Morning.” If anything, the record’s biggest problem is that it’s slightly front loaded. After the stunning surprise of side A, by the time Tesfaye settles down into side B, we’re slightly less invested as listeners. That’s why the Weeknd smartly end with a bang, the comparative epic “The Knowing,” where a powerfully defiant Tesfaye announces that “I know everything” while turning Akon’s chorus melody on Kardinal Offishall’s “Dangerous” into a yearning masterpiece. Dude may not know everything, but when he says it with so much conviction to close out House of Balloons, you kind of believe him.