Posted by Andrew Unterberger on 09/11/2012 at 5:28 PM News

The Popdust Files: the weeknd, trilogy

The Weeknd, primary project of Canadian soulster Abel Tesfaye, has spent a couple years building hype in relative obscurity, releasing a trio of free mixtapes and emerging only to play a couple of high-profile live gigs and make a short U.S. tour. But it looks like Abel is now finally ready for his close-up. The Weeknd has officially inked their long-reported deal with Universal Records, and will be releasing those three mixtapes—House of Balloons, Thursday and Echoes of Silence—on November 13th, as the aptly titled package deal of Trilogy, to be remixed and remastered, and to also include three thus-unheard bonus tracks.

Taking this long to step into the spotlight was probably a good idea for Abel, who garnered a lot of his early buzz due to the fact that nobody was really sure who or what The Weeknd was, the mystery of which added to the general intrigue of the already intoxicating, disorienting music. Still, you can’t stay underground forever just because—this isn’t the ’90s anymore—so we’re glad to see that he’s attempting to make the leap to that next level. Reminds us that we need to give Echoes of Silence another couple listens, anyway.

[HipHopnMore]