Last Wednesday, Sudan Archives shook the Complex with her BPM tour in what would become one of the most impressive headline acts to take the stage. She released her album, “THE BPM,” October of last year, citing inspiration from previous tours with Caroline Polachek and Andre3000 who instilled in her a renewed love for EDM. Sudan was joined on stage by the equally impressive and relentlessly unique suhREEtah, who perfectly complimented the main act while building on the distinct complexity presented by Sudan’s sophomore album.
A Talent that Reserves Your Mind
In an outfit composed of a red body suit and black moto-boots reminiscent of ‘50s sci-fi, Sudan was breaking necks left and right as the crowd tried to absorb the musicians’ every move. Brandishing her violin like a weapon, her performance resembled a gadget-girl archetype, featuring her use of sound effects and light bars to immerse the audience in her technologically advanced world. The musicians’ art combines the likes of synths, electronic drums, carefully curated auto-tune and unadulterated passion. Resulting in a project that is unique yet still finds a home in the landscape of today’s musical zeitgeist, defined by pushing boundaries. It is clear to new listeners and long-time fans alike that the album is a true representation of the growth and experienced skill of the dedicated multi-instrumentalist.
The tone that Sudan set for her show was one of disregarding inhibitions and letting the music conjure a youthful ignorance of self-awareness. The entire crowd responded with a wide variety of movement and cheers. Two moments, however, stick out as the most memorable of the night. First, Sudan invited a member of the crowd to join her onstage to dance on an elevated platform while the musician sang her song “MY TYPE.” Second, towards the end of the concert Sudan instructed the crowd to create an aisle down the middle, resulting in an impromptu vogue runway. Voguing is a highly expressive and complicated form of dance that evolved from Harlem ballroom culture, and was cultivated by Black and Latino LGBTQ communities. After Sudan’s work down the runway, she invited the rest of the audience to join and there were many who took the chance to demonstrate their own dance ability. Both of these moments illustrate Sudan’s commitment to audience engagement and connection, likely led by a desire to ensure that her audience can imagine themselves as stars — even if just for a brief moment.
THE BPM
Sudan’s past music resembles more of what you might see from other artists in similar genres of pop and R&B. Although the lyrics are still powerful and the talent is still masterful, listening to past works illuminates how much Sudan has grown. Not only does “THE BPM” have more breadth, but the album is also a presentation of Sudan’s evolving confidence and technical mastery required to break out of traditional genre confines. This idea is referenced in her song “A BUG’S LIFE,” “She don’t need a plan, she gone try her hand.” Sudan credits some of this confidence to others in the music industry, specifically Caroline Polachek and Andre3000. In 2023, Sudan toured with Polachek for “The Spiraling Tour,” and in 2024 she joined Andre3000 for the “New Blue Sun” tour. Both of these experiences, according to Sudan, inspired her to create her new album. After seeing the energy from the crowd on both of these tours, Sudan decided to lean more towards dance music for her next album. Clearly, the challenge paid off, as “THE BPM” was welcomed with wide critical acclaim.
SuhREEtah
Although suhREEtah’s name is not likely to sound too familiar yet, it would be impossible for anybody who saw her performance to forget a single act. Expertly blending spoken word poetry and her own musical compositions, the young artist is forever cemented in her audiences minds due to her overly-expressive body language and painfully gripping lyrics. Exploring more of her work, one discovers that suhREEtah is anything but new to acts of creative expressions and resistance. Arguably, the most unique part about suhREEtah’s music is that only interacting with it as a listener defeats the purpose. The ideas and concepts of her work can only come together through multi-media reception from her audience, so if ever presented with the opportunity to experience the music live, take it.
Both musicians are representative of the future of music and the patterns that observers have been seeing for the past few years now. As the majority of media continues to bend towards similarity and playing it safe, Sudan Archives and suhREEtah make it their personal mission to continue experimenting despite increasingly overwhelming signals from the rest of the industry to conform. Wednesday was suhREEtah’s last night on tour with Sudan and fans can follow her website to stay updated on when she will be performing again. THE BPM tour will continue until Feb. 20.