Sudan Archives
THE BPM
Release Date: Oct 17, 2025
Genre(s): R&B
Record label: Stones Throw
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Album Review: THE BPM by Sudan Archives
Exceptionally Good, Based on 5 Critics
Based on rating 4.5
American polymath creates a vibrant, energetic atmosphere on her bustling house party of a third album One of the great attributes of Sudan Archives' new record - of which there are several - is the hall-of-mirrors approach to genre. Rage rap beats collide with deep house grooves and synth pads, the frantic pace of Jersey Club is applied to a particularly introspective track, and staccato glitch sounds are contrasted with crunchy live instrumentation. THE BPM takes multiple stylistic cues but the songs feel both cohesive and distinctive, a vibrant, energetic atmosphere running through the album, which builds on earlier offerings like Natural Brown Prom Queen and Athena.
Based on rating 8/10
It was then that she started making the innovative vocal and string loops that she would later become known for as Sudan Archives. With each release, she explores new territory, reinventing herself and her sound. Parks's latest album achieves no less, taking listeners on a journey through a futuristic, chrome-plated world born of her imagination. Heavily inspired by club sounds in Chicago and Detroit, THE BPM presents a more confident, refined Sudan Archives; this time, as Gadget Girl, "a technologically advanced musician who's exalted by her embrace of technology," according to a press release for the follow-up to 2022's breakthrough Natural Brown Prom Queen.
Based on rating 4/5
THE BPM keeps a close eye on its titular concern - namely, to keep it racing at almost all times and to drag you along for the ride. Sudan Archives' Brittney Parks continues to experiment with electronica and strings, red-level intensity and navel-gazing contemplation on her thrilling third album. This all-caps affair goes deeper into the sounds of Detroit techno, Chicago house and Jersey club, managing to use them as jumping-off points amidst her whirling electronic effects and string arrangements.
Opinion: Excellent
"The BPM is the power," Sudan Archives sings on the title track of her third studio album. Embodying "Gadget Girl," a persona who empowers herself by making music through technology, Archives generates startlingly new sounds on The BPM. She covers a broad sonic range with her signature violin, treating the acoustic instrument like it's electric throughout.
Opinion: Excellent
It's been a minute - well, three years – since Sudan Archives (real name Brittney Denise Parks) released her last album 'Natural Brown Prom Queen', one that saw her progress from the R&B-meets-folk tinged debut 'Athena' into something poppier. The progression was startling at first but made sense in the larger scope of Parks' songwriting. Now she's back with a new album, and - as the title suggests - 'The BPM' is mostly electronic with the emphasis on the beats.
'THE BPM'
is available now