Sudan Archives
Natural Brown Prom Queen
STONES THROW
The last time we listened in on Sudan Archives’ conversations, the Cincinnati-born singer, violinist, and songwriting producer was dazzling us with an experimental electronic album that touched on her jazzy locution and an open-ended sound—not so much unfinished as it was limitless. More Moses Sumney on Athena than anything else, Sudan Archives now finds more of her own soulful way—folksier and more hard, flitting R&B-driven—with a richer sense of storytelling, focused verse-and-chorus songcraft, and studies of racial divides with Natural Brown Prom Queen. Hell, there’s even an appearance from late-’80s electro-disco icon and doyenne of the 808 Egyptian Lover on the slinking, kinky “Freakalizer.”
With that, Sudan shows off how she’s having more fun, doing fewer violin runs, and making literal house music on warmly humorous tracks such as opener “Home Maker,” dropping freeing lyrics such as “Only bad bitches in my trellis.” While “Is This Real? (Can You Hear Yourself?)” and “Selfish Soul” traffic in a brand of necessary au courant sociology with their caramel-centered choruses proudly on display, “NBPQ (Topless)” beats its drums—literally and figuratively—on all aspects of race and colorist powerment.
Elsewhere, the plucky, acoustic “ChevyS10” and the hypno-mesmerizing “Yellow Brick Road” depart from the real world into an existence dreamier and more phantasmagoric than the rest of the record. Wherever Sudan Archives is going from Natural Brown Prom Queen, you’ll want to be there.
