Concert Review: Sudan Archives at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles

Brittney Parks, better known as Sudan Archives, crowns herself the Natural Brown Prom Queen as she wraps up the North American leg of her “NBPQ” tour on October 25, 2022.

Written by C.S. Harper

Indigo lights pool on the floor of what looks like an abandoned stage in the aftermath of prom night. Balloon arrangements sway back and forth, with the letters NBPQ adorning an idyllic painting of a landscape at the center of the stage. Ominous synths begin to play — the audience collectively holds its breath as it eagerly awaits the arrival of its Natural Brown Prom Queen.

She emerges from the smoke, dressed in her coronation look. Serving Afro-futurism from head to toe, she wears a metal wreath on her head and a leather corset that accentuates her graceful movement as she glides across the stage. The audience roars in applause, and she makes no haste to begin her crowning speech with “Homemaker.”

Brittney Parks (better known by her stage name, Sudan Archives) delivers a tantalizing performance. Her autotuned voice floods the stage as she entices the audience members with her best floorwork moves and encourages them to clap along to the music. “L.A. is lit!” she hollers at the crowd once the track’s hypnotizing jazz fusion instrumental fades away.

Parks reminisces on her homesickness and her tour experience. “We was playing every day!” she giggles. But she snaps back to reality and says, “Let’s give it to y’all.” She breaks into a fast rap, performing “Copycat (Notions)” while hopping around the stage enthusiastically. With the context of her tour sleeplessness in mind, angsty lines like “Monday, Tuesday need to get some sleep” take on a whole new meaning.

“What’s good, L.A.?” the singer shouts before giggling once more, “I think it’s time to hit y’all with some throwbacks though.” She breaks out the violin to perform “Oatmeal,” plucking the instrument with effortless dexterity. With the help of her backing band, she transforms the minimalistic R&B fusion track into a psychedelic wall of sound that surrounds her and her violin. Allowing the instrument to speak for itself, Parks plays it for a brief intermission during the song, gyrating along to it in a moment of blithe ecstasy.

Her violin continues to command the stage for the remainder of the concert. From a mic check to jaw-dropping solos, the instrument steals the show — and the audience members’ hearts. As if in a sweet homage to the fiddle, Parks holds it to her tongue during her performance of “Ciara,” licking handle as she squeals a high note while singing, “'Cause I got ride or dies 'til I die that can deal with bullshit / Yeah, that's right, right by my side.”

Without a break, she moves on to another solo, her back turned to the audience in an impassioned moment as ethereal synths envelop her. She begins performing one of her most successful tracks to date, “Confessions,” twirling around the stage in fervor while doing so. “Why is my presence so painful?” she yelps at the end of the song, her arms outstretched while her voice echoes across the stage.

Grimacing, she begins playing her instrument again. But a catchy beat starts and she says, “Wait a minute! Oh, I’m feeling freaky!” Parks starts dancing, groping and shaking her breasts as the bouncy instrumental of “Freakalizer” continues. She picks up a sash, saying, “I’m looking for a prom date. Where they at?” In a quasi-burlesque fashion, she twirls around the stage with the sash, her possessed expression and screams (“That freak!”) juxtaposing her graceful movements. Finally, the singer gives the sash to one of the crowd members, who looks like they are bursting with joy.

Parks doesn’t just limit her audience interaction to the stage: During the song’s breakdown, she hops off into the crowd, still screaming “That freak!” while dancing with her fans. “Y’all are lit!” she shrieks gleefully at the song’s end. “I don’t even need a show, y’all have this done!”

To cool things down, the singer-violinist performs the soothing neo-soul track “Loyal (EDD).” Introducing the song, she says, “Who hates their job? Fuck that! Do what you love. This next song is about hoes.” (Already knowing what song this is, an audience member hilariously shouts, “Fuck them hoes!”)

The violin takes a break for the track, allowing Parks to shine. Accompanied by a minimal jazz instrumental and 808s, her vocals are the center of the song. She belts, murmurs, and shrieks throughout the track’s runtime, experiencing the full range of human emotion before she falls to the ground and mutters, “Fuck these hoes.”

“Y’all ready to get lit? It’s time to turn the pace up.”

Parks holds the violin like a guitar, plucking it and menacingly gazing at the audience as the opening pre-chorus of “OMG BRITT” plays in the background. She fluctuates between whisper-rapping in the verses to borderline metal screaming in the chorus, delivering a heated, grimy performance. “Oh my God!” she screeches at the end, her voice echoing throughout the entire venue before she drops to the floor. “Oh my God,” she sings again, serene synths caressing her voice to calm her as she continues repeating the line, each time less distressed as she transitions into “Chevy S10.”

Over the mellifluous synths of the track, Parks is at her most sultry, biting her lip and motioning at an audience member while singing, “I hope he bring her ass over” and making a heart with her hands while asking them, “Wanna make some noise?” But her mood changes during the song’s upbeat breakdown, when she starts hyping up her instrumentalists and duck-walking along to the beat. Moments like these showcase the duality of Parks’ music: the simultaneous delicate sensuality and lively confidence.

“Since y’all are lit and stuff, I’m about to play some fiddle music,” the singer smiles at the crowd. She explains that the song was the first she learned to play on the violin, and it inspired some of her earlier music. Asking the audience to clap along, she gives a passionate performance with her eyes closed, letting the music carry her. Next, she announces “Milk Me” to her fans’ ecstatic cheers: “This song is about titties.” “Lick on my titty,” she sings while grabbing her breasts, then holding both middle fingers up, once again embodying the duality of her music.

Near the end of Parks’ set, her collaborator, a woman named Queen, comes onstage. “So basically, Queen helped me write this song, and she helped me with the titty chant [of NBPQ],” the singer explains. The two women have the audience chant the chorus (“I’m not average!”) back to them, adding an inclusive twist to it: “Cuz they’re not average / Cuz she’s not average / Cuz he’s not average.” Parks punches the air along to the music, finally screaming, “Titties out!” at the song’s end. “I’ve signed so many titties on this tour,” she says nonchalantly.

She thanks the audience for making her “last show amazing” before performing the aptly titled “Homesick (Gorgeous & Arrogant).” Over muted guitars and synths, she does pirouettes with her violin, twirling it around to the ethereal sounds surrounding her. She holds the instrument in the air as if it were a child before singing into it, holding a deep vibrato: “Homesick / Stale feelings.” And with that, the stage lights go out and the Natural Brown Prom Queen disappears.

But the lights soon turn back on and she reappears onstage, saying, “Who’s doing shots? And where’s my violin at?” ready once again to perform an encore. At the end of the night, she thanks the crowd and says, “Ciao!” Following suit, the violin makes one last sound for the crowd as the lights dim out for the final time. With this inimitable set — and the power of her ride or die violin — Sudan Archives creates a memorable wrap-up to her North American coronation.

Concert Coverage, REVIEWSAfterglow ATXNovember 16, 2022C.S. Harper, r&b, concert review, C.S. Hayter