Critic's evaluation
At the age of 36 and following a musical career that began in 2004, Bruno Mars is momentarily retiring from a solo career of three successful studio albums and teaming up with singer Anderson .Paak in the Silk Sonic project. The duo announces itself to the market with the album An Evening With Silk Sonic.
Countdown. "Who y'all came to see tonight?" is the question chanted in chorus by Mars, .Paak and D'Mile in time for the clapping. It's when the trio asks "who gon' get the ladies feelin' something?" that a groovy drum beat enters the scene bringing the swing of funk to the scene. At this point there is a full melody in sound stimuli from the brass, piano and guitar, which create a velvety sensual ambience. Silk Sonic Intro is a song that, besides inviting the audience to dance and offering a dose of adrenaline for what is yet to come, is accompanied by Bootsy Collins on vocals, who closes the song with the invitation: "and ladies, don't be afraid to make your way to the stage for a band that I name Silk Sonic".
The minimalist intro played by the drums brings to mind the structure built by Gene Page in Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up, Barry White's single. Despite this unexpected mention of sensuality, the violin sextet delivers dramatic touches in the introductory melody of Leave The Door Open, a melancholic sensation that, like a breath, disappears from the horizon. In its place enters a rhythm softly cadenced by the subtle, full-bodied strokes of Christopher Brody Brown's bass that walk happily alongside the punchy guitar and keyboard notes. It is this scenario of romance and conquest that embraces the listener into a universe of warmth, sensuality and attraction. Bringing his characteristic falsetto, Mars brings in his dialogue sincerity about feeling love for someone else and, in an attempt to prove it in a sexy yet romantic way, says he will leave the door open if "if you tryna lay in these arms".
With a rougher swing, what the listener gets is a funk structure even more latent than the one performed in Silk Sonic Intro. And here the guitar has an unquestionable responsibility, as it delivers wildly sensual notes of aggression in the introductory melody of Fly As Me. At the same time, the drums evenly accompany the track illustrated by the instrument and deliver the remaining groove to make the ecosystem heatedly inviting and attractive. Sung mostly by .Paak, the song is pure seduction suspense that longs for a reciprocal love. With his powerful, raspy and distinctive vocals, Mars situates the character so that she can "meet me halfway there". Fly As Me is a song that still offers glimmers of soul from the Hammond B3 organ and that, sensorially, is like the heat of the sun warming. It is like the sea breeze bringing the unforeseen and fate inviting you out of your routine.
Introspective, yet sensual. A female voice invades the scene with moans and sighs that act as an interlude to a reverie of memories about what happened the night before. Still, she asks "was it good for you?" The answer is intrinsic in Thundercat's bass that walks quietly as if warmly embracing the character. With the saxophone, trombone, and trumpet employed by Kirk Smothers, Kameron Whalum, and Marc Franklin, respectively, the sensuality aspect gains a lively and stimulating crescendo. This melodic and soft R&B aesthetic of After Last Night has a symmetry with the lyricism about passion, attraction and romance.
Looking confused and even stunned, .Paak tries to understand what happened to the romance. It's interesting how, after a sequence of four intense songs about happy, reciprocal and sensual romances, suddenly a song with a melancholic aesthetic comes out which deals with the opposite of this. One could say that Smoking Out The Window is a song of backwoods lyricism in which the suffering is an issue carried by the lyricist when he finds himself dumped by his girlfriend's ex-partner. And in this sense, the song serves as an outburst about all the deeds done, money invested in jewelry and clothes to then find himself once again embraced by loneliness. "How could she do this to me?" is the question that goes unanswered.
The violins glide with speed as .Paak introduces the listener to another song from An Evening With Silk Sonic. The conga is heard in the background and brings a splash of tropical air as Mars parades as light as the wind with his falsetto "oohs. While in Smoking Out The Window there is suffering and touches of bitterness, in Put On A Smile, through its dramatic melody, there is a sense of blissful nostalgia for what has been lived. A conscious conformation that what is gone represents a happy, but closed, chapter in life.
The funky guitar recreates the atmosphere provided by Joe Perry in Aerosmith's single Walk This Way. Joyful and sensual, the 777 brings a touch of naughtiness as it is set in a Las Vegas of gambling and games in sumptuous casinos. Luck is at stake as well as lifestyle.
Softness and sensuality take over again with the delicacy of violins hovering over a battery of equally serene phrases. What follows, however, is a danceable melody that entangles itself among the disco theme while highlighting R&B silhouettes among the melody. Skate is a song with a swagger and an exhortation to the image of perfection of the figure that sparked the passion of the lyrical self.
Glenn Fischbach's cello brings a fairy-tale narrative mood to the introductory melody. The explosions of the drums in union with the violin suggest the establishment of a waltz, when, in fact, what happens is the immersion into a soft and tender R&B. With well-defined divisions between the vocals of .Paak and Mars, Blast Off is a song that suggests the post-consumption experience of hallucinogenic products. The extraterritorial trip, the amplification of the senses, the exacerbated sensation of peace and relax. With an acid and psychedelic guitar solo by Mike Feingold, Blast Off becomes the track that invites the listener to an extrasensory experience, to say the least.
Romanticism and sensuality. Suffering and melancholy. Conformity and nostalgia. This trio of sensorial duos defines well what An Evening With Silk Sonic is: a hybrid of infectious joy and intoxicating suffering. More than that. The album shows that the duo Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak have chemistry not only by the rhythmic kinship of their songs, but by the synchronicity and energetic interplay that are easily perceived by the listener.
Packed with hits, the album shows that Silk Sonic knows how to drive an audience with music that is danceable, upbeat, charismatic and sensual. Much of this is thanks to the rhythms in evidence among the nine songs on the album, such as R&B, soul, funk and disco.
Of course, among this smiling exacerbation there are tracks that structure a more introverted and sad atmosphere. Smoking Out The Window and Put On A Smile, however, are not able to recreate the cavalier melancholy of acclaimed Bruno Mars songs such as Talking To The Moon, Grenade and It Will Rain.
Combining Mars' husky falsettos with .Paak's bitterly rough, slightly nasal timbre, An Evening With Silk Sonic is a product that captured the duo's impending swing thanks to Serban Ghenea's mixing. After all, he managed to add and marry two great personalities of current R&B into a record that sounds fluid.
Released on 11/12/2021 via Atlantic Records, An Evening With Silk Sonic is pure romanticized swing with touches of sensuality and melodrama. An album that brings the irreverence of one and the versatility of the other. It is a work that shows that there is no doubt that the Silk Sonic duo will grace the market with more future releases.
