Abel Makkonen Tesfaye also known as The Weekend brings us his 6th studio effort with After Hours. To start off I’ve always been a big The Weekend fan (though I’m not such a big fan of Starboy) so some bias may or may not come into play here. But as always the opinion that really matters is your own.
Clocking in at about 56 minutes it certainly doesn’t feel that long, as it takes you through that feels like a story that feel as consistent and as beautiful as ever for The Weekend. A lot of artists have what people call different “eras” in their music. With this outing it definitely feels like a new era for Abel.
80’s synth with ultra cinematic keyboards, deep bass and waves of echo, reverb and different modulations are the standout for this album. It almost feels like a A21 movie. The album starts off with “Alone Together” and “Too Late” filled to the brim with ominous keys and bass throughout. Following up with “Harder to Love” which seems picked right out the 60’s. The next couple of songs offer a great mix of synths and heavy bass that keep you on this amazing ride of the album
Some standouts of the album for me are: “Harder to Love” and the title track “After Hours”
“Blinding Lights” (the album’s first single) doesn’t do the whole album justice if you listen to it on its own. An amazing track of course but just another piece in this amazing work. I can say with confidence that this may be the quintessential The Weekend album 9.5/10
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