House of Balloons Review

Almost nothing here sounded commercial in 2011, which is exactly why everything sounds like it now. Illangelo and Doc McKinney built the thing out of negative space, kick drums that arrive late and land heavy, guitars smeared into fog, a dream pop loop slowed until it curdles. Tesfaye sings over that in a light, church trained tenor, and the gap between how sweet the voice is and how grim the scene it narrates has powered his entire career since.

High for This is a seduction that reads as coercion the second time through. Wicked Games is still the most naked thing he has recorded. The Party and the After Party runs past seven minutes because the night is supposed to feel long. The writing is thin in places and the contempt does not always earn the sympathy it asks for, but the atmosphere is total and unbroken, and the record plays less like a tracklist than a room you can walk into. Anonymity bought him a freedom he never quite got back.