Location:
Canada, Ontario

Category:
Electronic / Hip-Hop / Singer/Songwriter

Try if you like:
A$ap Rocky, Drake, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, Schoolboy Q

Abel Tesfaye is the one man R&B wrecking crew performing under the moniker of The Weeknd. I say this because Echoes of Silence is his third album of the 2011 calendar year, marking the final chapter of a thematic trilogy of mixtapes. When the first album, House of Balloons, was released, Tesfaye's identity was shrouded in mystery. However, once it was met with critical acclaim (and placed on the Polaris Long List) it made it hard for him to stay anonymous long. He now finds himself squarely in the spotlight of the burgeoning underground R&B scene riding high on the success of his prolific output which until now he's released all for free online.

Tesfaye has even been referred to as the "best musical talent since Michael Jackson" and his voice here often displays a certain Micheal Jackson falsetto style, notably (and obviously) so in the Jackson cover 'D.D.' which opens the album. Tesfaye doesn't really add much to it, sticking to the original's structure and melody almost verbatim. Lyrical themes run very dark throughout the album, most notably on 'Initiation', a disturbing druggy tale of kidnapping and rape. But if you can get past the bleak lyrics there's some interesting things happening in the production with some start and stop stuttering beats and impressive song structure. Tesfaye's voice always soars above the interesting beats though, confident and strong as any seasoned star.

What I find most remarkable about this release was how this, the third such album by The Weeknd in 2011, was able to stand alongside the R&B that populates the top 40 week after week. In terms of singing, songwriting and production, it's every bit as good as anything on pop radio and, in a lot of cases, better. And certainly much darker.