Trilogy is the collective release of The Weeknd’s three drug-filled mixtapes (plus three new songs) that together made up his 2011 musical debut. They were given out gradually free of charge and, with the help of countryman Drake; buzz was well and truly generated.
Trilogy centres around one of the darkest possible takes on the act of partying. The mastermind of the project, Abel Tefsaye’s music is the sonic embodiment of a high that’s lasted a little too long. The Weeknd’s idea of partying isn’t the one body, one soul mentality of Faithless, nor is it the superficial good feeling of David Guetta and co. No, The Weeknd is about feeling completely severed from reality, living in a kind of dream state as hazy drugged-out idea’s flicker in and out of existence.
’High For This’, the opener to both House of Balloons and the whole triple album, starts off proceedings with slow motion beats and gut-wrenching bass attacks, white noise rolls in and out like the tide in the intro of ‘Wicked Games’ and ‘The Fall’ from Echoes of Silence features little else but drum echoes and clunky sub-bass. The music, almost entirely made up of computer synths and drum machines, is a murky, urban beast reminiscent of the shadowy Londoner Burial. On standout track ‘The Party & The After Party’ Baltimore dream-poppers, Beach House are sampled, making a chipmunked Victoria Legrand sound positively smutty.
Much like underground RnB contemporary Frank Ocean, Tefsaye’s lyrics are as much responsible for his thrilling music as melody or backing tracks. But unlike Ocean, who deals in third person narrations, his lyrics seem universally personal. His tales of the darker aspects of the party life hit hard. The mantra like repetition in ‘Coming Down’; “I always want you when I’m coming down” is delivered 16 times with more conviction every time. Tefsaye’s vocals should not be forgotten either. His clear, piercing falsetto is beautifully juxtaposed against the otherwise extremely murky sounds on Trilogy.
But questions have to be raised about the format of this release. All three previously stand alone albums released in one package, clocking in at around three hours, could easily be viewed as a single entity. There is definitely a loose narrative over the three included discs, party, after-party and hangover seems to be the general idea, but the music here is heavy. It would be an extremely daunting task to listen through Trilogy front to back, and the sounds can get repetitive after that much listening. Although, perhaps I’m over thinking it, maybe this is simply a boxed set of three albums that were never commercially released. Either way there is some very good music here, although it would benefit from a little more variation.
Review by: Ferdia MacAonghusa
