The Weeknd – Thursday (2xLP)

The Weeknd's Thursday arrived on August 19, 2011 as the second of Abel Tesfaye's breakthrough mixtapes, following the Polaris Music Prize-nominated House of Balloons by only a few months. That quick turnaround matters: rather than repeating the debut, Thursday deepens the shadowy early Weeknd aesthetic, pushing his late-night R&B into murkier, more unsettled territory while he was still releasing this music independently.

Across ten tracks, Tesfaye and core producers Doc McKinney and Illangelo build a sound that pulls in downtempo, dream pop, dubstep, hip-hop, rock and even reggae touches without losing its atmosphere. The songs are less about radio polish than sustained mood, with haunted vocals and emotionally evasive writing giving the record its uneasy pull. Drake's guest spot on The Zone is the obvious headline feature, but Thursday is really defined by its sequencing and slow-burn immersion, from the tension of Life of the Party to the two-part arc of The Birds.

It also sits at a key point in The Weeknd's catalogue: part of the three-release run later gathered into Trilogy, and a clear sign of how fully formed his world already was in 2011. If House of Balloons introduced the voice, Thursday makes it darker, harsher and more emotionally complicated.

Reviews

• The drugged-up R&B project returns with its second free album, picking up where House of Balloons left off and adding some new twists. - Pitchfork
• with his distorted R&B Abel Tesfaye has developed a powerful and distincitive musical voice. - The Guardian