Sudan Archives' vibrant music of exploration
Sudan Archives' music celebrates digging. With infectious curiosity, her oddball collages of hip-hop, electronic and globally sourced folk bridge worlds and tramp through them, encouraging you to forge your own routes as well. Across two EPs and an album, the self-taught violinist, producer, and songwriter has honed a distinct blend of layered vocals and instrumentation that both pleases the ear and challenges it to parse all the fusion. Her vibrant second album, Natural Brown Prom Queen, details her passages between her hometown of Cincinnati, her adopted city of Los Angeles and the many other locales, people, and traditions that inform her idiosyncratic style. The record feels like a world tour of her brain, particular yet capacious — and always active.
Cosmopolitan music often leans's preoccupation is terroir, the distinct conditions that make a place unique. Sudan Archives doesn't just experience or consume global sounds; she interacts with them, her fingers sifting through the soil as she feels out every little element. "Suck out the honey," she implores on the steamy R&B track "Milk Me," capturing the intimacy and pleasure of her sourcing. Each encounter seems to clarify her own origins and path forward.
