The Weeknd - The Knowing

Blimey. What a f***ing trip.

House of Balloons was the addiction, the lack of videos (and substitute piles of cliché fan-made crap tarts) was the withdrawl symptom.

Tesfaye and the XO clique trade potions with long-time PinBoard homie/mad scientist Mikael Colombu to conjure up this first ever official Weeknd visual, and it wholly goes far-left. The piece is definitely more Dune than Battlefield Earth rest assured, and turns the once monochromatic envisioning of this record into a gorgeous, pale blue, eye-wank Space-Opera. If you’re familiar with the director’s work, you’ll know to give it repeat viewings for sake of subtext alone. It’s a daring work that smells of cult classic.

Both Balloons and Thursday have been personal highlights of my musical year, but I’ve a feeling this video may divide opinion for it’s even more avant garde departure – but then that’s all an artist needs to stand-out. Few have been doing that with as much of an arrogant, brilliant, reformist attitude than The Weeknd this year.

Can’t wait for Echoes of Silence.