It started out as a joke between friends.
One night four years ago, R&B singer and drummer Anderson .Paak played behind the scenes with Bruno Mars on his European tour.
It must have sparked, because as soon as the lockdown came, they "locked themselves up together and made an album", as pop perfectionist Bruno Mars, from whose "uptown funk" earwig many still have to recover from, announced on his Instagram profile .
Mars and Paak share a love for Afro-American music of the past decades - that is how Silk Sonic, as they call themselves together, sound like two halves that have always belonged together on their debut album “An Evening with Silk Sonic”.
The journey through time into a world of twinkling stars, pastel-colored suits and rose-colored sunglasses takes just under thirty minutes.
Get the disco ball going
“An Evening with Silk Sonic” is less of a pure homage, it is rather the resurrection of funk, soul and R&B of the seventies. Hiphop elements are new: “Fly like me”, “777” and “Skate” get the disco ball going and let Anderson .Paak prove his class as a drummer. On nine songs you are infected by the joy that is in every harmony and every surprising chord change. On “Apple Music” Mars and .Paak report on leafing through old magazines in search of the right drums or guitar picks. This attention to detail, coupled with the duo's abundance of musical talent, makes this show a nod to the past.
Bootsy Collins, the bassist of Parliament-Funkadelic, gave Silk Sonic its name and guides the audience through the fictional evening program of the album with a velvety voice. Silk Sonic completely forego the complex questions of identity from Paaks 'music, preferring instead to play in Bruno Mars' pop universe, in which one desires beautiful women (“After Last Night”), sings about one's Monte Carlo Coupé (“Fly as me”) or abandoned in the rain the beloved afterwards mourns ("Put on a smile").
So that the kitsch doesn't overwhelm you, everything happens with a wink: Anderson .Paak sings “Not to be dramatic but I wanna die” in “Smoking Out The Window” and throws himself on the beige carpet in the music video out of sheer heartache. This is how Silk Sonic succeeds in creating a caricature that turns into a work of art - a joke between two friends that has turned out to be brilliant. During the occasional live performances, the duo not only impresses with velvet suits and small dance interludes, but also with new variations of their songs - as if Bruno Mars wanted to prove to the world that he can really sing every note. For the grand finale we float beyond the stratosphere in “Blast Off” and end the show dancing on the rings of Saturn. “We'll watch the world go crazy from outer space,” sings Mars.Who can blame him for fleeing into space - there have been worse moments for some musical escapism.