Several critics said An Evening with Silk Sonic was crafted from elements of R&B, soul, funk, hip hop, and pop music.

The album was also promoted via the concert residency An Evening with Silk Sonic at Park MGM (2022), along with a number of performances at various award shows.

[3] .Paak says Mars considers every detail of a song, such as its theme, its sounds, and how it would engage people with the chorus, while .Paak is more of a free form, perceptive, and "What's the vibe?"

[4] Homer Steinweiss, the drummer of the Dap-Kings, who had previously worked with Mars on Unorthodox Jukebox (2012) and 24K Magic (2016), also contributed to the album by playing drums on a song.

[4][8][9] To achieve the sound they were aiming for, Silk Sonic and Moniz had to reach out to elderly "session guys" and read "old drumming magazines".

They needed the right gear, such as Ludwig drums with Remo Ambassador heads, Giovanni Hidalgo congas, a Hohner Clavinet D6 keyboard, a Danelectro sitar, a Trophy Music mini-Glockenspiel, and a Solid State Logic mixing board.

[23] "Leave the Door Open", "Smokin out the Window", "After Last Night", "Put on a Smile", and "Blast Off" all feature key changes that have been praised by various critics.

[16] The album opens with "Silk Sonic Intro", where the duo shows their intention of "locking the groove" and it features guest vocals by Bootsy Collins.

[16][13] Ross Scarano, from Pitchfork, and Caleb Campbell, writing for Under the Radar, draw attention to the similarities between the song and the Miracles's "The Tracks of My Tears" (1965).

[13] The seventh track, "777", shares the same inspiration as that of "Fly as Me", from James Brown, Parliament, and the "assertive drumming" on the Ultimate Breaks and Beats.

[27][38] The album's final song, "Blast Off", includes an "unhinged guitar solo" leading to "twinkling electric pianos" as it finishes.

The band's debut album was titled An Evening with Silk Sonic, featuring American musician Bootsy Collins as a special guest host.

[42] At the same time, the artwork was revealed and is a retro sketch of the two hitmakers' floating heads that reads, "An evening with Silk Sonic ... with special guest host Bootsy Collins".

[4] Despite their previous scheduling, on October 8, 2021, coinciding with Mars's birthday, Silk Sonic announced the album's release date of November 12, 2021.

[58] On November 10, two days before the release of the album, at an event hosted by Spotify, Silk Sonic premiered several songs at West Hollywood's Peppermint Club for a select group of people.

[62] On February 14, 2022, the duo released a cover of Con Funk Shun's "Love's Train" (1982) as a commemorative song for Valentine's Day.

[75][83][84] A cover version of Con Funk Shun's "Love's Train" was first released on February 14, 2022, to digital stores and streaming services.

[97] Sowing, writing for Sputnikmusic, gave the album four-and-a-half stars out of five and complimented it, "An Evening With Silk Sonic lives up to its billing as a true experience: it's sexy, ever-so-smooth, and radiates confidence and charisma...An Evening With Silk Sonic marks the pinnacle of Mars's and .Paak's respective musical careers.

Harmony praised An Evening with Silk Sonic, "It's an efficient half-hour endeavour where every song...sounds like the grand finale of an epic live production.

"[32] Campbell from Under the Radar wrote, "In the world of Silk Sonic, the champagne never stops flowing, the grooves go all night long, and everybody is having a great time.

Dolan said "the result is the most enjoyable record Mars has been a part of – a glorious excuse to turn out the lights, break out the bubbly and let the sublime power of their almost troublingly uncanny retro verisimilitude work its mimetic magic.

"[98] Jason Lipshutz from Billboard said "the studio product contains its fair share of glittery jams – stick around for the superb finale, "Blast Off" – the nine-song LP will undoubtedly be best suited in a live setting, if Mars and .Paak decide to tour.

Eustice felt "Mars and Paak are in and out, delivering their best impression of '70s funk, soul and R&B – albeit each track is so spit polished and clean, it noticeably lacks the raw charm of the original.

"[26] Candace McDuffie from Paste, in reviewing An Evening with Silk Sonic, believed it "works because these two artists know how to complement each other extraordinarily well.

"[21] Pitchfork's Ross Scarano rated it 6.4 out of 10, and found "Leave the Door Open" and "After the Last Night" to be the most outstanding songs of the album, due to "slathering elevated technique—all those key changes.

"[19] In a mixed review, No Ripcord writer Joe Rivers rated the album 6 out of 10 and wrote An Evening with Silk Sonic suffers from "a paucity of ideas" with tracks that recycle the same sounds and subject matter.

[101] Several publications put An Evening with Silk Sonic on their lists of best albums of 2021, including top-ten placements from Billboard and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

[118] However, Mars and .Paak declined to submit An Evening with Silk Sonic for the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, citing the number of accolades they had already garnered.

[130][131] The record has sold 100,000 equivalent album units in the UK, and earned a gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

[133] Two years and three months after its release, equivalent album units exceeded 50,000, and it was certified gold by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP).