The Weeknd – Trilogy Listening Session

It’s hard not to be a little bit disappointed that what’s being called the Weeknd’s debut album is really just a remastered compilation of his three mixtapes with a few new tracks tossed in. At the same time, it’s hard to blame Abel Tesfaye for it. After all, he did churn out three full length releases of original music over the course of a single year. The man’s got to be exhausted.

Unfortunately, this hard work may not have had as positive an effect on his career as one might expect. While the three tapes are surprisingly consistent in sound and quality throughout, what House of Balloons had that Thursday and Echoes of Silence did not is what you might call hits. Songs that get stuck in your head, that you recognize when you hear a bit of them from someone’s window. Songs that you put on at a party to get a big response from the crowd. The rapid release of these three tapes into a single release, however, proceeds to flatten his sound into a sort of uniform background music for anyone who wasn’t nerdy enough to closely listen to all three.

It’s also possible, however, that Abel Tesfaye doesn’t want to be a singles artist. Rather, the remastered release of his mixtapes proves that he doesn’t want his three babies to just be lost promotion for his so-far unannounced debut studio album. The comp acts as a sort of definitive collection for serious fans.

I’m not sure what the Trilogy album preview has to say about his future successes other than that he doesn’t seem to be that worried about it. Either that or he’s good at faking calm satisfaction.

The preview took place in just about Manhattan’s only Weeknd-appropriate neighborhood, the Meatpacking district. The post-industrial neighborhood now houses many of New York’s most “exclusive” night-clubs. That means low lighting, loud music, and an impressively swanky atmosphere, complete with hors’ d’oeuvres and crystal clear ice-cubes. I ate something that one of the guys told me was vegetarian. It was warm and moist and I’m really not sure what I was eating. Whatever it was, it was some fancy stuff, I knew that for sure. The bartenders even used Coke from glass bottles for mixed drinks. To be frank, I felt a little bit under-dressed.

The album itself was its same old mournful self: the remastering seems to be primarily focused on sound quality, although the vocals were a little softer and the bass packed a more powerful punch. It certainly livened up some of those deep cuts from the second two tapes. The Weeknd himself seemed as comfortable as anyone else there, possibly even too comfortable. He appeared in a hoody and jeans, hobnobbing with just about anyone who wanted to hobnob with him. If this casual attitude is the secret to his breakneck output, then this is a good sign, as long as it eventually leads to a studio album featuring completely of new music.