Album Review: An Evening With Silk Sonic by Silk Sonic
Album Review: An Evening With Silk Sonic by Silk Sonic
In their highly-anticipated debut of the year, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak uses '70s soul influences to create one of the year's best and most surprising albums.
Taken from Phil’s defunct blog, The Wax Report, an extensive review of the most important albums, covering everything from production to lyricism and overall cohesiveness.
Few imagined that in one day, Peter Gene Hernandez and Brandon Paak Anderson, better known by their stage names Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, two singers with great differences, especially regarding their target audience and musical genre, would make an album in set. However, surprising those who follow both, in 2021, they come together as a duo, Silk Sonic. Some of these unexpected collaborations can end up going wrong, but many also surprisingly exceed expectations. It seems that Mars and .Paak’s collaboration not only worked but also created their best album.
To create this work, Silk Sonic used retro influences, something that is on the rise lately, popularized mainly by Dua Lipa and The Weeknd, who are making many singers use characteristic rhythms from the ‘70s and 8’0s in their work. But when it comes to Bruno and Anderson, the use of genres from past decades doesn’t just come from an attempt to get into something that is successful, as they have used this before: Peter Gene has already used a lot of nostalgic sounds in his projects, and it is possible to see Brandon enjoying sounds used here in other of his songs. In An Evening With Silk Sonic, Mars and Paak decide to avoid the obviousness of most attempts to revive 1970s musical styles, creating a much more original work and faithful to their proposal of creating an album that takes us back to the 70s.
As said before, the influences of musical styles from the 70s are very well used. This is mainly due to its production, which manages to bring an extremely strong 70s atmosphere through excellent elements of funk and, especially, soul. “After Last Night” is the richest track on the project, there are a number of layers of varied mesmerizing instruments: trumpets, violins and intense guitars in the background give a soft and sophisticated air to the song. Something possible to notice is that the entire album is produced in a similar way, with the presence of a similar structure and details throughout the record. But, even with so much similarity between the songs, the album never sounds repetitive, as it uses these in such a way that all 9 songs have some outstanding differences.
In terms of vocals, Bruno and Anderson nail it. It’s charming to see how their voices together combine a lot, resulting in harmonious vocals full of chemistry. One of the biggest examples of how this occurs within the album is in the song “Leave the Door Open,” in which this peculiarity in the way they sing is extremely high. Especially in the pre-chorus where Mars sings as the main vocalist while the backing voices accompany him harmonically, or also when Paak sings in the bridge, something similar happens. All tracks have this characteristic, but the song mentioned is the one that most contains this. Furthermore, the fact that they have powerful voices helps with the quality delivered in the artists’ singing.
An Evening With Silk Sonic doesn’t have any weak songs, they’re all great. However, despite being very good, “Silk Sonic Intro” and “Skate” are the ones that shine least here. The first one mentioned, as it’s just an introduction, doesn’t have much to highlight, but it’s still an excellent start to the project: it’s interesting how they seem to have designed it with the intention of sounding like the opening of a 70s show. The artists are introduced:
“Fellas, I hope you got somethin’ in your cup
And ladies? Don’t be afraid to make your way to the stage
For a band that I named Silk Sonic.”
The second single is a delicious and fun song, but it is overshadowed by other tracks on the project because they have different aspects in both the production and vocals that make them better.
As has been said before, this is not the first time that Bruno and Anderson have used a retro sound, so it is not something innovative in their discography, but it is the best of the artists’ attempts to make a sound like this. In An Evening With Silk Sonic, Silk Sonic creates an excellent album using 70s soul, bringing together Mars and .Paak is one of the best and most surprising projects of the year.
Great (★★★★☆)
Favorite Track(s): “Leave the Door Open,” “After Last Night,” “Blast Off”