As Sudan Archives, Brittney Parks first emerged onto the scene as a self taught avant-garde violinist, channelling sounds through loop pedals. She has combined left-field strains of R&B, hip-hop, and experimental electronic music with hypnotic string loops and the fiddling style of West Africa.
After bursting onto the scene in 2017 with "Come Meh Way”, she masterfully bridged the gap between her early glitchy, avant-garde compositions and timeless songwriting for her debut album Athena. The album drew inspiration from divine Black feminine power, being described as a “boundary-defying R&B innovator” by The New York Times.
Now, she’s at the top of her game. She’s released three singles, each one stronger than the last, off of her newly released sophomore LP Natural Brown Prom Queen. The album is by no means a straight forward pop project, but it contains some of her catchiest, lushest, most joyful songs to date — surprising, given the fact that she recorded, arranged, and edited them in her basement during deep lockdown. This is also her most personal project, taking in race, womanhood, and the fiercely loyal, loving relationships at the heart of her life with her family, friends, and partner. On Natural Brown Prom Queen, Sudan Archives invites you to join in and embrace shared joy.
“A swaggering statement of intent with all the idiosyncratic charm that makes her music so memorable” – Pitchfork (Best New Track, 2022)
