The first fruits of The Weeknd’s ominous-sounding “strategic partnership” with Republic have hit the web.

Abel Tesfaye – the artist behind our favourite album of 2011 – has signed an ad hoc deal with Universal offshoot Republic Records to release a newly burnished, specially mastered version of his incredible House Of Balloons/Thursday/Echoes Of Silence purple patch.

As Playground spot, the Trilogy edit of House Of Balloons cut (and heavy Portishead nod) ‘Wicked Games’ has now appeared online. The new version of the track is a good minute shorter, the cursing has been removed, and the backing track has been given a substantial facelift.

In many ways, the whole The Weeknd project c. 2011 felt like an experiment – a test case in how to cultivate some old-fashioned mystery and intrigue on the internet’s enormous, cluttered stage. The ‘Wicked Games’  redux suggests that the experiment continues: how do you maintain the cult when yanked into the cold light of exposure?

On the one hand, ‘Wicked Games’ v2.0 sounds impressive, all HD programming and crystalline guitar jangle. On the other, the project’s success lay in its murk, its ambiguity, its suggestion of buried horrors –  who on earth really wants a clean-cut, clean-version Tesfaye?