As the song speeds up Tesfaye starts to sound more seductive - “ride it out… work that… till you’re tired out” - but then he switches into his monster voice, transforming the seduction into something twisted and dangerous. The lyrics are scary as he warns a girl “no more crying… you don’t want to die tonight”, a threat emphasized by the instrumentation, where eerie and siren-like sounds drift behind dark chords. Tesfaye uses some sort of vocal modulation to switch between his own voice, a higher voice that sounds kind of like Prince in his Camille phase, and vocals that sound like a hollowed out mask-wearing Cillian Murphy in Batman Begins (echoing an effect he used to add gravity to the phrase “Nightmare on Elm St.” off “Glass Table Girls” from his first album). The next song, “Initiation”, should give every listener the creeps. The rest of “The Host” slides along on anguished yelps and ominous synth pulses. The “Host” starts “I need… “, and trails off before Tesfaye returns to sing “I need, something from you.” As we know from previous experience, when Tesfaye is in need, bad things happen to him and people around him. A malicious guitar bursts behind the “XO” sung on the chorus and the song ends with a fading moan. The first part of the track is weirdly bouncy as it describes a girl ready to do a lot of things in search of drugs. While each half conveys a different instrumental feel the whole maintains the sense that Weeknd’s world is overwhelmingly, inescapably gloomy. The Weeknd’s signature sounds are most evident in the middle of the album: the fourth track, “XO/The Host”, showcases a trademark Weeknd technique, two songs mashed into one without any transition or pause. While Echoes of Silence shows flashes of excellence, Tesfaye is caught like the Greek god Janus, looking backward and forward at the same time - while one side of him looks towards pop, the other harks back towards his previous mix of scary themes and sneakily catchy tunes. The earlier aggressive sound has now been significantly toned down in favor of less threatening noises. While several songs are still rooted in the anomie and destruction of Tesfaye’s initial output, he is beginning to embrace more mainstream forms of R&B. Now comes Echoes of Silence, which continues to expand the Weeknd’s range. These tracks diluted the startling thematic unity of his first record by introducing softer sounds. The second, Thursday, expanded Tesfaye’s sonic palette, including the reggae tinges of “Heaven Or Las Vegas” and the gorgeous “Rolling Stone”, which featured only Tesfaye and acoustic guitar. Tesfaye’s threatening vocals were combined with industrial clatters, menacing synths, and excruciating guitars. The first, House of Balloons, startlingly used R&B to explore not love and longing, but hostility, depravity and disregard. A project of Canadian-Ethiopian singer Abel Tesfaye, the Weeknd has maintained a steady trajectory in his releases. Echoes of Silence is the Weeknd’s third release in the last year.
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