Cincinnati, OH · experimental-r&b

Sudan Archives

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Violin, loop pedal, and R&B — Brittney Parks builds whole songs live from a single bowed phrase, fiddle traditions rewired for the club.

Sudan Archives is Brittney Parks, a singer, violinist and producer originally from Cincinnati and later based in Los Angeles. Born Brittney Denise Parks, she began playing violin by ear in fourth grade, and her stepfather's work at a record label steered her into an early pop duo with her twin sister before she left home for Los Angeles at nineteen.

She is self-taught on the violin and drew early inspiration from West African fiddle traditions, which she folds into electronic production, R&B songwriting and looped, layered vocal arrangements.

In Los Angeles she studied ethnomusicology at Pasadena City College while frequenting the experimental club night Low End Theory, building material on her own equipment. She has spoken of wanting to show what she calls the Blackness of the violin, researching fiddle traditions across Africa that treat the instrument as something for the party rather than the concert hall.

Her records move between sparse, percussive tracks and denser, string-heavy pieces, and her live performances typically involve building material in real time from bowed and plucked violin lines.

She has released three albums through Stones Throw: Athena in 2019, Natural Brown Prom Queen in 2022 and The BPM in 2025, alongside earlier EPs including a self-titled debut in 2017. In 2023 she won two Libera Awards, for Best Breakthrough Artist/Release and Best R&B Record.

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