If I had to point out one summer banger that got stuck in my head it would be Sudan Archives “Selfish Soul”. Her show at the Entry was one of the last ones I caught before the Covid Shutdown and I looking forward to her return on 10/4 at the Fine Line. Tickets are available HERE
As Sudan Archives, Brittney Parks 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, as heard on a pair of EPs and her debut full-length, Athena (2019). She masterfully bridged the gap between her early glitchy, avant-garde compositions and timeless songwriting on the “stunning, reflective” (Pitchfork) Athena, and returned in 2022 with two new songs (Home Maker, Selfish Soul).
The self-taught violinist, singer, songwriter, and producer started playing violin in her native Cincinnati, Ohio. After Parks moved to Los Angeles to study music technology, she started producing beats on a tablet computer with the addition of her vocals and strings, the latter increasingly inspired by immersion in Sudanese music. For her first LP (Athena), she took a collaborative approach and worked with a group of fellow producers who included Paul White, Rodaidh McDonald, and Wilma Archer after self-producing her first two EPs.
