From an Instagram posted by Mars on 26 February, it appeared the album is to be called ‘An Evening with Silk Sonic’, which will feature a guest host Parliament-Funkadelic’s Bootsy Collins who has said he created the band’s name.

Mars, who is well-known for liking a gamble, had been performing at the Park Theater at Park MGM Casino in Las Vegas until the pandemic stopped play. Whilst he may have enjoyed online play at Mansion Casino in his downtime, he was also in the studio putting together music in collaboration with .Paak and Bootsy. .Paak has had an even better start to the year having signed to Dr Dre’s Aftermath Entertainment in January 2021.

Their Previous Collaborations

Mars and Anderson .Paak have known each other for some time. The pair toured extensively together in 2017, with .Paak opening for Mars on his ’24K Magic’ world tour. This is the first album from Mars since the 2016 24K Magic, though he did collaborate with Cardi B on the single Please ME and with Ed Sheeran and Chris Stapleton on the single titled Blow, both released in 2019. Paak’s latest album Ventura was released in 2019 and he was involved in the release of Where I Go as part of the virtual Double Happiness Festival in 2020 and a collaborative single with Busta Rhymes entitled YUUUU in September 2020.

Silk Sonic

The announcement of Silk Sonic and its debut album has caused great excitement online. The first single from the album the funk-influenced Leave The Door Open was released on 5 March 2021 alongside a polished live performance video. The band also released Silk Sonic Intro for the once-secret project.

It was Mars that wanted to keep Silk Sonic under wraps, a project that began in 2017 when the two toured together on Mars’ 24k Magic world tour. There is one song on the album that dates back to that time. The album was put together from music the two men came up with whilst jamming together without any plan other than working out parts and trying to impress each other. coming up with music and it felt like why you fall in love with music in the first place. Jamming with your buddy, there’s no plan. Just working out the parts and trying to excite each other.”

Music

To recognise his talent is to learn that .Paak recorded the drums in a single take for “Leave The Door Open” .Paak has a unique playing style that can be heard across on the album and is “one of the baddest drummers I have ever seen” according to Mars. The album, therefore, has a musical focus on drums, not like modern music, but in the style of old-school musicians at a time when one drummer would play on every record, like the Funk Brothers at Motown.

The album has a “live” feel to it despite being recorded during quarantine during the pandemic. Unable to do shows, the two men created a “Setlist of Doom” to create a show within the studio. which was pulled together by Bootsy.