Sudan Archives’ Brittney Park is in a class all her own on Natural Brown Prom Queen, and a breakthrough statement of intent in album form it is. Arguably challenging Beyonce’s RENAISSANCE from top to bottom in long-length with no misses in between, the sophomore follow-up from the Los Angeles-by-way-of-Cinci-based multi-instrumental continues bending her violin in ways previously unheard through an uncanny composition of R&B, rap, electronic and pop futurism. She can do it all, seemingly, singing and rhyming circles around this thing called life, with every song being a piece of her story, but part of the greater narrative loosely based on her transplant status in L.A. and reanalyzing her identity by mending memories of past familial bonds with future desires in the frame of a Black woman. The ambition is palpable, and so is her inner energy projected out, coming into her own authentically with one of the year’s most truly singular visions.

Highlights: “(NBPQ) Topless”, “Selfish Soul”, “Homesick (Gorgeous & Arrogant)”

Sudan Archives’ Natural Brown Prom Queen is available now on Stones Throw.

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