Sudan Archives

you know that one song You Can't Get Enough of chances are it was made with a sample from splice explore top packs made by your favorite producers sketch out song ideas in seconds with create mode and dive into a sample catalog that's so deep it's dangerous find out why splice is the industry's not so secret secret visit splice.com and try for free today welcome welcome to the fader interview I'm Alex Robert Ross editorial director of the fader and what Britney Parks the violinist singer rapper producer and arranger better known as Sudan archives has a complicated relationship with pop music as a teen she was pressured by her stepfather a music exec who helped launch the iconic Atlanta label the face records to form a pop duo with her twin sister committed to forging her own path she rebelled got kicked out of her family's Cincinnati home and moved to Los Angeles where she worked service industry jobs and played open mics before signing with stones throw records to EPS in a full length later she's at the top of her game she's released three singles so far this year each one stronger than the last and just announced her sophomore LP natural brown prom queen due out September 9 the the album is by no means a straight ahead pop project but it contains some of her catchiest lushest most joyful songs to date surprising given the fact that she recorded arranged and edited them in her basement during deep lockdown last month the Fades Raphael hell fan sat down with par to discuss her Newfound acceptance of capital p pop her missing pet python and the unorthodox process behind the excellent new record she can't wait for the world to hear I caught your set at big ears Festival in Knoxville which was great cool I'm wondering what what your experience was like at that Festival I'm trying to figure out oh big ears where Marcus Moore interviewed me there yeah yeah yeah how did you like that Festival it was cool because I remember like Saul Williams was like right after me and then after Saul Williams AES tumor played and I'm friends with the bass player of vest tumor and she's super cool and then Saul Williams I'm friends with him too because we kind of always are like whenever I'm on a European Festival run he's always playing like right after me it's weird so from that Fue all the people that were playing I'm like and even a vest tumor I'm always playing on the same lineup as him so I was like I felt like um it made sense in that building like the lineup but overall like the whole festival it was like all types of music it was like World music to orchest RA music to like Saul Williams then AZ tumor it was really experimental a lot of it I thought it was great it was my favorite Festival that I've been to in a long time I think and it was great to see you play there I'd never seen you play before listening to the new album I was like surprised by how many songs I recognized from that show partly because like I was surprised that you previewed them so early but also cuz like they're so catchy that I immediately remember them when I heard them again so like I know your intention isn't to make like capital p pop music but I'm curious like do you think of natural Brown queen as more of a pop project than Athena not really I just think that maybe it's my sound is just becoming more and more polish which makes it feel more and more pop I used to like stray away from that word when I was younger only because when I was in like a group with my sister I felt like my stepdad he was trying to like help us do music right and like he would always like bring up pop stars and try to compare us to them and be like don't you want to be like that and it wasn't like he was trying to like manipulate me or anything but he was trying to like push me to like want to like think bigger and stuff but for some reason I just didn't like the comparisons he was making so I was like no I want to do what I do which is I don't know what it is yet but it's not that now I'm not afraid of the word because I just think it means you're popping and I am popping so call it pop call it whatever you want to call it because it's always going to change to people like people are just so funny like my first EP somebody tried to label it as Folk and Country and I was like okay and then like I remember the next one people were labeling as electronic and now people are saying pop and I'm just like it just depends on like the person who's viewing the music's own influences like maybe they hear a lot of Pop influences and maybe someone who knows about fiddle music or is saying I hear a lot of Irish music influence and maybe someone who's like grew up in a church is like this sounds like church worship worship music you know I don't know what it is I don't really care what what it is but if pop means popular then go ahead and call it that because I really wanted to reach like a wide audience I used to just want to like be very like I work my job and then I do open mics and I do this and it's like that's my life but now I'm just like no I want my music to be reaching as many people as it can because like why not you know yeah I mean I definitely don't think of Pop as like a disparaging word or anything I don't think it necessarily is like a descriptor really e either like anything can be pop really yeah and also I realized a lot of the older experimental artists are now like a lot of experimental artists mold what it becomes pop like you know what I'm saying like I feel like borck and hon paa and Rami and all these people like they were doing like experimental music like when it first came out it was looked as that but now it's like the new sound of pop and so I think think that's good if I can influence the way that pop music is made that's super cool if you're able to influence the way majority of musicians and stuff in the pop World make music I think that's just super cool to be that influential you know talk to me a little more about your relationship with church music cuz I know that's where you started playing violin it's kind of an interesting place to start playing violin cuz I don't necessarily think of the violin when I think of uh church music was it unusual for for your church to have a violinist did they kind of just roll with it when you joined or or was it kind of a process yeah basically they were rolling with it they just thought it was cool like a violent player in the choir people in like those type of churches those small churches they're really like supportive about kids getting up and playing anything they want to play like if it was like a rain stick they'd be like yeah play it for the in the name of God play it for God Like Rain play that rain stick so it was just very supportive Community like I just felt like I could just go up there and play and my mom kind of pressured me to cuz it it felt unusual to me I was like what am I going to do up there you know and she was like just that's how people like that's how real musicians do it they just get up and play by ear just go and do it so that was like my first experience like getting up and just having to just like go with the flow and I had to learn how to play by ear and how to fit in where I fed in and I remember the orchestra not the orchestra but the choir leader commit M she would like find church songs that had violin solos to make it even easier like go home and listen to that part and try to like play that solo so it felt like really good that they were trying to like mold the set for me too cuz the violin sometimes like in a band you can't really hear it like it's like a softer instrument so they would like try to highlight make moments for me to like play a solo and stuff but I definitely felt like really awkward at first but I just felt so like supported and like the drummer was like my boyfriend at the time so I was like trying to like sound super cool and good for him too like and it was fun because like we could be closer like we were like right there I remember I would like play right next to him and stuff do you come from like a musical family at all I know your stepdad was a was a big producer but before that I feel like my dad he was like always a musical person but he never pursued music he went to school for theater he was like known for being really like popular kind of like really crazy personality guy and he would always like be the best in the theater like where you had to sing and stuff so I feel like it got a lot of that from him and his mom was like really into the church and like sung in the church too and then like some of my cousins they picked up piano and stuff they're really good at that I remember one of my cousins was like the keyboard the other keyboard is in the choir too it's like a natural music background but it's not like anybody was doing it professionally or anything it was just like everyone kind of knew how to do something you know yeah and I've heard the story about like you deciding you went to play violin cuz you saw like an Irish folk band playing violins you still listen to any type of like Irish music yeah I just went to an Irish um fiddle show it was like this guy Jerry o Conor well he was playing Irish digs and he was like talking about the stories and how he learned them and he was really good like it was crazy and then it just reminded me like that's the reason why I play music because the Irish jig music is just so wild and upbeat and just really cool like you don't really hear violin sound like that in pop music so if I could influence pop music in any way it would be dope to like bring those like dying traditions and sounds into modern and making music because that was like the whole plan of me moving to La it was like I really wanted to be an eth musicologist for like dying string instruments so in a way I guess I'm still doing that from there like I know you got into uh sudin music and another African music and like the like single string uh fiddle players can you just sort of like talk a little about how that came to be how you first introduced that music and what you liked about it yeah I feel like um I was just looking for like representation I guess because I remember just knowing that I didn't want to really be in an orchestra I I like playing violin but I don't think I wanted to be in an orchestra and I liked fiddle Club but I think I moved to a different school where they didn't have like fiddle after school program or something so I was just like looking for ways to be inspired to like maybe keep playing violin so when I realized that like there was this whole like violent culture in Sudan and in Ghana and in Eastern Europe and stuff when I was like in like you know the Irish stuff that I was already aware of when I like connected all of those and it just felt like they were all kind of connected in a way like to me it seemed like an unconventional way to approach violin because I came from like a western way when I first started and then when I went to different schools there was never like Orchestra there or anything so I was just playing in church but when I was like looking up I guess since Sudan was a nickname that my mom gave me I started to look up like music of Sudan and then I realized that they really really mess with the violin heavy like it's a part of their culture and then that they have like a lot of traditional music with violin and vocals and I think that really made me feel like it was maybe like pre-ordained for me to have that nickname so I could explore the songwriting approach of the way they make music because I feel like it changed the way that I made my songs because I realized that you don't have to like have violin like tucked in the back background or it doesn't have to be like this like Legato pretty moment it can be like wild and like crazy and just piercing and just like aggressive you know so it kind of reminded me of fiddle music too of like the Irish and and the way that they played the violin it reminded me of like Prince and Jimmy Hendrick or people that just play guitar and sing and how their guitar is like a huge part of their set and then their songs so I thought that I could just be like the violin version of that you know how did you get the the nickname sadan my mom just gave me the nickname cuz I was going to like call myself like Tokyo Moon she was like no I just remember that and I remember saying just what about Sudan like Sudan Moon and then it changed to Sudan archives but basically like she just thought it was a really pretty name and then I think I realized that the meaning in Arabic is like land of the blacks so I thought that was kind of cool too but she just did not want me to call myself Tokyo moon was that like a reference to to Sailor Moon Yeah well everyone love sailor moon but yeah I think I think you chose a better name you haven't done many interviews between the release of uh Athena and now um which makes a lot of sense because you've been working on an album but um what else have you been doing in the meantime besides making the record and touring trying to make my house look really cute and build the studio in my basement because during Co I made a basement studio and I usually always like do stuff in my bedroom but now I actually have space where I can like dedicate the basement to just being a music studio so that was really fun do you still have a pet python a completely other question but uh I read an interview where you said you had a pet python yeah and actually he's lost right now oh no yeah actually he broke out his cage like two days ago and I don't know where the he's at usually he's always under that red bean bag but right now I don't know where he is and I think I might have to try to lure him somehow like get a mouse and just like leave it in the center of the room and see if he'll go investigate it but I'm kind of scared because I just I have looked everywhere and I just can't find him like I don't know where he went but they can go three months without food so last time I lost him once he I found him in a week but he hasn't ate for like a month so I kind of feel like I hope he comes out soon because I don't want him to starve and juice all that you desire you water from the island you can be me [Music] I'm don't you feel hold on the [Music] fall feel better a don't you feel [Music] the check now Homemaker since we're talking about your home um that song came out uh just a couple weeks before when I saw you at the festival um I like how uh that song goes against like the traditional image of a homemaker or the traditional maybe perception of a homaker something like regressive or like unfeminist did you said have to try to challenge that perception when you're making this song or it just like sort of come naturally it definitely came naturally but that's what's so cool about doing music videos because you can really like analyze the song and really like go for it the person who directed Joselyn directed the music video I really liked her treatment because I was basically like a siren like in the treatment it was like I was this siren that basically is learning these men to just like feel hypnotized like they're at home and then it flickers to like the real freaky siren me but I look like this Midwestern like kind of sweetie shopping for home decor and stuff but really it's like we're not even in a furniture store were literally in a mirage and I just thought that was such a cool treatment and idea why did you choose that one to like open both the album and like the release cycle like what did you think made it like the lead single and like the opening track I think cuz it was the it was done it took so long to finish these songs like it was probably one of the songs that were just done like every other song I just kept changing the ideas I kept like Gathering other people's ideas and like it just like I feel like that was one of the songs that was just done and then I don't know if I'm supposed to mention this yet but it is the first track on the album but it was so weird because I had all these demos and I just knew that that was the first song like even before the album was even done it was like this weird thing where I like put all of these like demos that aren't even finished in like a playlist and I was just like this is how I think the album should go and then it never changed probably supposed to be like an introduction somehow to just the whole thing but it was just like natural I just it was always the first thing in the playlist I think natural brown prom queen also sounds a lot like a like a first track it's sort of like a Vibe shift from Homemaker to like the big like the bazooki at the beginning of the title track did you think of it that way like a like a Vibe shift from the first song when you when it when when the bazooki came in and like sort of it sort of to me like brought me back to like some of your earlier stuff I know I really like that that bazooki like Simon on the moon helped with that and he plays like all of these crazy instruments and like he was probably like one of my favorite people to work with because he has so many like cuz I feel like I like to collect instruments like string instruments and I feel like he has all these crazy instruments too so it was like super fun did you pick him out because he also had a moon name so this is the thing like I didn't even realized I basically did a blind test and I basically listened to like that song from like five other people and I picked him and I was like I don't want to know who anybody is what their name is or anything I just want to listen to the stuff so then after that I found out that who he was and everything like after the album was just like done I thought that would be like a fun experiment what was the experiment like you just like did you have did you know you wanted bazooki did you know you like and did you do that for all the songs I didn't even know what I wanted I was just like open to like whatever it was basically and my basement my the the plan was I'm going to take from what I like and mix it all to myself and like arrange it all myself High I like and so I never really said the type of stuff that I want or instruments or anything but he just stood out because he was just like all the instruments he was playing was just so like cool and bizarre sounding to me it had like a livee feel like you you could I could tell that he was playing like in instruments like it wasn't just like sampling or anything I was like this is cool so did you basically just like send out the stems or of of the demos like to just a bunch of musicians like how how did that work basically my management had some ideas of maybe who probably would be a good fit for example natural brown prom creen I like liked two people's idea so the bridge like I be seeing things like where it's like these vocals and it's like this like sounding moment that's like a whole different producer but I just used that bridge for the bridge because I don't know I thought it'd be like a weird change up and the song like slowly gets faster and faster and faster so I remember I took like a guitar from someone else's idea and just put the guitar on it and then like I did a lot of like I don't know what that's called but I just pieced a lot of stuff together and I never have done that before I would just be like I like both of these takes on this so I just split it up like it was the first part and then the second part is the other instruments so it was just kind of was like a a really weird like mixed media like kind of approach but I thought I thought it was [Music] cool that c my fa bab things on the natural natural [Music] Brown cuz I'm not average [Music] aage just because I'm hard to manage doesn't mean I canot have it so speaking of like the Personnel on the album looking at the credits it seems like the main producer was uh Ben dicki how did you link up with him I know he's like worked with a lot of big acts like feature islands and like and like wuang in the past that's like a pretty varied catalog of people he's worked with yeah he's my manager so he kind of like basically was like always linking me with like producers right in the past and I would be like that was cool but I kind of think I had some type of anxiety so I didn't want to work with people in real life like I just wanted to be here and do what I do unless they come here then that's cool but I just kind of feel like I work best like doing everything I do like just here like I don't think I need to make a demo at someone else's Studio because I don't want to be influenced by what they think I should do or I don't or I might just be too nervous to even do what I do in front of them so he probably had he was like well since it's co let's like work remotely with people you don't have to like go there and then like make make a demo and be like oh I want to mess with this but then you can't because it's like on their computer and it's like this process of like taking all the stems and then taking it to your house and stuff like that so it just felt like it would work out way easier because of Co and because of my own anxiety and because of my own creativity for me to just stay here and never leave and make music and people can just do what they think would be cool or put instruments over it or co-produce on it and then I could just listen to it and be like I don't like any of that but the drums you got to keep them so he basically helped through that he helped like weave that process together and then he also was so excited about the project that he had some ideas too so we never worked in that way before but I was open to it because I'm just like a open book like I'm just like oh you think you can make the song better then do it like Okay then if I like it then I like it and I just want people to like have opportunities I feel like when you are closed off and you just want to do everything on your own that's that's cool but for me I think it's like more beautiful to like just see what a team could do and everything else that I've been doing live is such a solo thing so it's like my only time that I can like work with people and stuff so I just wanted everybody to feel like welcome to just do anything they wanted to do and it would just go past me and if I liked it then it would stay or if I didn't then I would like go down here and I would maybe like manipulate it in a way or be like Oh I like that but I'm going to move it here and I think that's the best way I've ever worked with people before because um I just don't think I do well on other people's spaces because I feel like I'm a homem maker and my vibe is so viy so I got like my weed here I got like my stuff animals you know I got the instruments and I got everything I need here like if I go there I got to bring all that there and then on top of that I got to like be like where am I and like that's just awkward like I rather just stay here and then let everybody just do what they do best there and then it just worked out way easier for me I don't think I'm like I don't think I I like it any other way to be honest so that was like a fun process because now I figured out if I work with people that's just probably going to be the best way to do it for now or something when it comes to just my own music but and also I got to like invite my friends over and like get my friends to play guitar on certain stuff like my friend hella strings like he played base on like Sierra and homesick and then like Dexter story played base on selfish soul and like Egyptian lover did some stuff on another song and James helped like arrange and stuff like that so if I was in someone else's studio and I had to delegate and bring all those people there I wouldn't really know what to say but since they were all just coming into my space it was like way much of a Vibe where it wasn't like like it didn't feel like to just like I don't know I just don't really do good in other people's spaces was there anyone else that you were super excited to work with on the album yeah I think I named them all I was really excited that mono neon like played bass on and produced a inlude I want to make more music with him but I just think he's like so talented and all the people I named and even like just close friends like Andre and keswa and ya they played on Homemaker and Andre like he produced Chevy S10 and all those people like all it's like basically the people that make me feel at home are all a part of the album like everybody even my twin sister helped me write copycat like so it was like definitely like you could say it was homemade in a way you know the other song that's out and will be out by the time this comes comes out is uh selfish Soul yeah I mean I really liked how it's sort of like a celebration of your hair but also like very honest about like the insecurities you've had about it is this sort of like the song is kind of like about your process of like coming to like be comfortable with your hair yeah I remember when I first heard a song like this when I was really little like it was called I am not my hair by ND and I really like that song because I guess in the song selfish soul I try to like kind of make o to that song in that way and talk about my own experience with hair and how I've always felt like the insecurities it comes with having like a certain type of hair texture and and specifically maybe America like I always feel like it's like a big mind or something like having hair like this like I remember I had a natural kind of like hippie phase where I was just wearing my Afro and also it was really cheap and affordable to just do that cuz I just had no money so I just like just let him just be whatever it is and I remember like people would always like ask me questions like like political questions and stuff specifically because they just thought that probably I was which I feel like I don't know if I technically am but I think I am just because of who I am but yeah I just feel like you're perceived a certain way when you have a certain hairstyle and I just kind of felt like when I cut my hair people were like where they were like almost like telling me like I got to have it like that almost like they're like where did it go or oh my God like where's the fro and I'm like the fro is not a person okay it's gone like doesn't matter I remember sometimes when I would get certain hairstyles like weave or something people would be like oh my God Sudan's changed and it's like the like you don't even know me hair has nothing to do with who I am as a person like I have money now so I'mma just have different hairstyles like you thought that I was just the hippie I was just broke I was a broke hippie yes and I'm still a hippie but I have money to get my hair done out you should be happy for me so yeah that's what the song's about and then also what it having like all those elaborate hairstyles the stress it comes with because when you start paying for all these hairstyles you don't want to do certain stuff because you don't want to get it messed up so then like this never ending just like mind I think hope I grow it long back long back time like way before if I wear it straight would they like me more like those girls on front long ha make them stay little longer stay here stay straight though we feel a Shame by the curs waves and Natural Things curs waves and natural things okay one time if I grow it long am I good enough am I good enough about time I brace myself and soul TI my feet myself is [Music] soul it's been so long since I had a Col if I cut [Music] it well we've gone for like 50 minutes I don't want to take up too much more of your time but uh anything else that you want to talk about that you're like excited about for the for this announcement yeah like my tour I don't know when exactly this is coming out I don't know if it's going to come out during my tour but basically I'm really excited about performing the new songs cuz I'm going to be performing the new songs even though they're not out and I'm excited to like how to make it live do you have a live band picked out to play it with you and when I saw you at uh big ears you were you were all solo yeah like I'm starting to experiment and find the perfect people but I I I definitely know what I the type of vibe I'm going for and I'm actually like about to like figure that out like right now after this interview like I have a meeting with Trevor who like basically is going to figure out how to make my make my violin like integrate into Ableton to where I can like do all of the effects that I've ever wanted to do and do all the looping that I ever wanted to do like I feel like he's basically like there's not a lot of people who can do this with the violin specifically so I'm just like so happy that I can like I have the tools to be as nerdy as I want to be now so I'm just really excited about that alone I think that alone even is going to make my solo shows even like crazier then on top of that I already have like ideas of how I want the band or the duo to be or whatever like I feel like I have a lot of ideas I'm going to like be testing out until the actual um homecoming tour was there any new gear on this album or any new gear that you're taking on tour with you that you're excited about yeah I'm super excited about basically like not taking like my guitar pedal on tour this is like 60 lbs and and it has like doesn't have like a really good handle so I was like always like carrying it and like my left arm just became like really buff like in the right arm not as buff so I'm happy to not use that and I'm going to replace it with like this machine called the 12 step which basically is going to do that but it's not going to be 60 lbs and then I'm really excited about the spdx because I'm going to be like triggering things live I'm just really excited about that for some reason I've always wanted that in my set like to be able to like trigger stuff with the sticks like I just think it's so cool well that's really exciting I'm excited to see you on tour and yeah I'm excited about this album I think it's really great so uh yeah thanks so much for coming on thank you that was Britney Parks talking to the faders Raphael hell Sudan archives's new album natural brown prom queen is out September 9 by a stone St [Music] the fader interview is engineered by Tony GM Bron the executive producer is Alex Robert Ross and the associate producer is Rafael hell we'd like to thank Lon audio for providing our microphones you can find them online at L aen audio.com and we'd like to thank James ivy for providing our intro music if you enjoyed today's episode we'd appreciate if you left a five-star rating in review if you like listening to the fader good news we're now on the new live radio app amp download it from the App Store and check out our shows with the access code feder on AMP that's all one word and keep an eye on the fader.com for essential music news interviews and essays we'll be back soon with another episode of the fader interview goodbye until then you know that one song You Can't Get Enough of chances are it was made with a sample from splice explore top packs made by your favorite producers sketch out song ideas in seconds with create mode and dive into a sample catalog that's so deep it's dangerous find out why splice is the industry's not so secret secret visit splice.com and try for free today