Andy Platts is the YOUNG GUN, a U.K.-based musical prodigy, a world-renowned singer/songwriter/ guitarist who formed the British soul band Mamas Gun and has written with the likes of Rod Temperton and Brian Jackson. Shawn Lee is the SILVER FOX, a gray-haired Wichita, Kansas-born London transplant who fronted his group Ping Pong Orchestra and also served as musical director and drummer for Mumbai musical legend Asha Puthli.

Together, the soulful duo comprises YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX, discovering each other on MySpace, then joining together to release four increasingly successful album projects starting in 2015 with West End Coast, a tribute to their London roots. Through three subsequent albums, including AM Waves (2018), Canyons(2020) and Ticket to Shangri-La (2022), YGSF continued to mine their love for the breezy, sunny, roof-down strains of ‘70s California pop-rock-soul, channeling the likes of the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Earth, Wind & Fire, Pablo Cruise, Ned Doheny and others now referred to as Yacht Rock. In fact, the group were the only newcomers cited as authentic purveyors of the genre in the recent acclaimed Max documentary.

“We have a sound and language that we’ve cultivated as a band, but we still need to find ways to move forward and do something we haven’t done before,” explained Shawn.

The duo’s upcoming fifth album – and Blue Élan debut – delivers on that promise. After four releases with both members laying down ideas in their own studios and emailing files back and forth, this time Shawn traveled to Andy’s studio The Prairie in Norfolk where they wrote and recorded ideas from scratch, with one-half of the album’s 10 songs coming from these in-person sessions.

The first single, “Stevie & Sly,” a tribute to GOATs Wonder and Stone, was the very first idea the two collaborated on at Andy’s studio, jamming together on Rhodes keyboards and bass. “We were trying to convey the feeling of being an old soul born out of time,” said Andy of the tune, which has all the earmarks – thumping bass, falsetto vocals, chiming organ and funky guitar “to take me back to 1975,” as the song says.

With a rapidly growing U.K. and European following, YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX are starting to make a mark on these shores, having just concluded their largest U.S. tour to date in 2024, supporting the Black Pumas both here and across the pond. Other fans of the band include composer Hans Zimmer and ELO’s Jeff Lynne. The pair is also in demand as songwriters and producers, having penned the title track to U.K. superstar boy band Take That’s recent album This Life, which went to #1 on the British singles charts.

For these two musical kindred spirits, the chance to make a new album together allowed them to return to a sacred space. “I always come back to YOUNG GUN SILVER FOX like taking a drive to the coast,” said Andy. “I just smell the ocean and the air and it’s like ‘wicked I’m back here again’ and I can just kick back and enjoy it.”