Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, better known as three-time Grammy winning artist The Weekend, dropped the mystical LP “Dawn FM,” on January seventh, adding a fifth album to his award winning discography. 

His previous album “After Hours,” introduced us to a unique 80’s tone Tesfaye distilled throughout the album, with hit records “Blinding Lights,” and “Your Eyes,” showcasing his emphasis on heavy synth and punk beats. 

Tesfaye continued this new-found sound throughout the sixteen-track album. He began the experience with an antique radio-esque intro with the track “Dawn FM,” then followed it up with the upbeat and intense track “Gasoline.” Tesfaye maintains the core tone of the album with two straight bassline heavy tracks, “How Do I Make You Love Me” and “Take My Breath.” 

We are taken then to the first interlude of the album, “A Tale By Quincy.” The track features famed music producer Quincy Jones softly musing over his life’s troublesome journey. Jones was recruited to work on the album due to his strong personal relationship with Tesafye, who described him as one of his idols.

The album continues with the simple yet silky track “Out of Time,” where Tesfaye truly showcases his acclaimed vocal range. 

The first feature of the tracklist was provided by fellow Grammy winning artist, Tyler the Creator, in the song “Here We Go…Again.” Although Tyler the Creator’s verse in the track was fairly short, he made good use of it, illustrating both his superb individual and collaborative talent. 

Now, halfway through the album, Tesfaye begins to merge the songs into each other, almost to the point where the listener can’t distinguish between the individual songs. Tesfaye’s ability to skillfully match songs up with each other is a testament to the talent he possesses as a producer. The second half of the album starts with three examples of the masterful confluence of three tracks, “Best Friends,” “Is There Someone Else,” and “Starry Eyes.” 

The album begins to wind down with a lackluster feature from acclaimed rapper Lil Wayne in “I Heard You’re Married.” The juxtaposition of Wayne’s style and timbre mars the built up vibe and tension Tesfaye had created to that point. 

The album concludes with a posthumous outro delivered by Jim Carrey where, amid a melancholy reflection on the life you lived, you realize that the things you’ve chosen to miss out on were caused by a curious guise named “Phantom Regret.” 

The collection as a whole was a masterpiece in tonality, production quality and songwriting and deserves all the accolades I believe it will receive.