Words Tara Joshi

The idea of editing and compiling three of your own mixtapes into one long album might sound self-indulgent, but The Weeknd’s Trilogy manages to avoid this pitfall, instead offering up indulgence of the aural kind. Canada’s Abel Tesfaye presents his collection of lush, seductive songs that writhe and moan without ever being too overbearing; as with previous releases, the beauty of The Weeknd’s output is in the chilled, almost-sleazy vibe permeating the tracks.

With brilliant layers of samples from a variety of artists –pretty brushes of Beach House to brash strokes of Siouxsie and the Banshees – this is R&B rebranded. It’s slick, it’s intelligent, and there are wonderful glitchy moments of electro interspersed between the smooth beats. At three-hours long there is an occasional sense of repetitiveness, and some tracks were better on the original mixtapes, but – as a whole – Trilogy is the epic its title suggests.