My introduction to Sudan Archives was the song “Nont for Sale” from her first EP Sink in 2018. I’ve been a die-hard fan ever since. With each album, she finds new ways to sculpt the sound of her violin, contorting it in defiance of expectations.
Athena found her in conversation with it, leaving its timbre largely recognizable and organic, veering from experimental pop to more ambient passages. Natural Brown Prom Queen embraced the aesthetics of sound collage, samples, and modern R&B, blending her violin with more expressly electronic elements. The BPM has identifiable violin passages, but it fully embraces the more technological elements of Sudan Archives’ sound.
The album opens with “Dead,” which begins with gentle orchestral swells and a processed, but identifiable violin. Then, at the 1:30 mark, the beat drops — what sounds like high-pitched vocal chops dance around the stereo field, and an undulating synth bass drags he whole thing to the dance floor. The track serves as something of a mission statement, with multiple movements exploring the various incarnations of Archives’ sound as she asks, “Where my old self at? Where my nеw self at?” answering herself by chanting “right here, right hеre” in response to each.
What follows is a volatile tour of dance music, from the four-on-the-floor funk of “My Type,” to the trap-tinged tongue-in-cheek sex raps of “Ms. Pac Man” — there’s even an Irish jig in the middle of “She Got Pain.” Across the record, there are flashes of autotune, drum ’n’ bass breaks, house piano stabs, techno synth bass, and, of course, soaring violin flourishes. Often, there are multiple of these things in a single track as Archives eschews typical pop song structures, bouncing giddily from one style to the next.
Unsurprisingly, the tempo on The BPM is generally amped up compared to much of Archive’s previous records. But it’s not all club bangers. “Come and Find You,” winks at 80s and early 90s R&B of acts like Sade. And often the lyrics turn to matters of the heart, “I found a way to travel to you even when we’re not in sync, I’m gonna find my way back to you, Even when it’s really hard I like the push and pull,” she sings on “David & Goliath.”
The BPM is a dense, hectic record that revels in its unpredictability and sonic shrapnel. It’s also my favorite record of 2025. Despite only coming out in mid-October, it was my most listened to album according to my Apple Music Recap. Sudan Archives The BPM is available on Bandcamp and most streaming services, including Qobuz, Tidal, Apple Music, Deezer, YouTube Music, and Spotify.
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