Young Gun Silver Fox

The new and fourth album by Young Gun Sil-ver Fox makes it clear in every song that the title "Ticket To Shangri-La" is perfectly chosen: 70s vibes, West Coast folk vocal harmonies, soul grandezza and an almost spiritual serenity characterize their compositions. Behind it all are two men who didn't look for each other but found each other and who fit together perfectly. Andy Platts and Shawn Lee already live a full musical life. One has made a name for himself as a composer and songwriter, while the other's work as a producer, multi-instrumentalist and composer is highly regarded in the global soul and funk community. And yes, Andy Platts has also become known as part of the soul-funk band Mamas Gun!

But they both treat themselves to this time out and fly back to a time that appreciated such laid-back sounds and play their grandiose music completely irony-free, very seriously and yet incredibly lightly floating and casually grooving. Platts sang all the vocal tracks, Lee put them together into great harmonies, and underneath lies this sound between disco and soul, between 70s classic rock and fusion jazz, between Steely Dan, Prefab Sprout, the Eagles and whatever else.

The chemistry and craftsmanship on "Ticket To Shangri-La" transports you, as the title suggests, to a magical, mythical world of sunshine and good vibes. Or as Platts puts it, "I always come back to Young Gun Silver Fox like I'm going to the coast, breathing in the sea and the air. I just sit back and enjoy." The production is so precise and to the point, warm and radiant, the instrumentation and arrangements are so finely balanced from the rhythm sections to the backing vocals to the sharp horn sections and sax solos, and yet you never hear all that work in the tracks. That's the magic of Young Gun Silver Fox.