Although Bruno Mars’ last album (24K magic) released in 2016, it felt like a Disneyland hobby in 1986. Anderson .Paak broke out as a rapper and singer who could tell the difference between an old soul and a hip-hop co-op. temporal to separate, but 2019’s Ventura it was a retro break-in disappointment. It hasn’t been broken (Mars ’record took home all the Grammys, and .Paak also won one) and instead of repairing it, they are doubling down with a new collaboration called Silk Sonic.
Released alongside an entrance with spoken words by Bootsy Collins, “Leave the Door Open” transforms the soul of the 70s into a costume drama, without the drama. You can effect a spot-hit with the skillfully handed pastiche if you like – you might be better off courting through a quiet storm collection, like David Toop’s 1996 anthology Sugar and poison– but what you have left is a slow-moving, well-entertaining pastime that may advertise at “wyd” texts at the end of the night but doesn’t break a character long enough to to be present. This is not postmodern, as The love below or even Cee-Lo Green is the soul machine; it is in the past in the form of a hologram. Instead of leaving the door open, Silk Sonic should invite an audience to come in.