SUDAN ARCHIVES “A BUG’S LIFE” OUT NOW
Sudan Archives’ much-anticipated third album THE BPM drops this Friday, October 17th. Today she has released the final pre-album teaser, the house-inspired track “A BUG’S LIFE”, which premiered on BBC Radio 1 as their “Hottest Record in the World”.
THE BPM was recorded in Los Angeles, Chicago and Detroit, the rich culture of Black dance music in the latter two cities inspiring Sudan Archives to create what she calls “Orchestral Black Dance Music”. “A BUG’S LIFE” is perhaps the track on THE BPM to most explicitly reference Sudan Archives’ Midwestern roots and the dance music that gives this record its edge, with its house rhythm and backing vocals. The song celebrates freedom, Sudan Archives envisioning herself “flying to the moon” and embodying another personality – chaotic, impulsive, and running away without looking back.
On THE BPM, Sudan Archives moves with style and grace through her most expressive, extroverted record yet. She has always used personas to translate her energy on each album – on Athena, she was a classical goddess; on her breakthrough album Natural Brown Prom Queen, she inhabited Britt, the Cincinnati girl with big dreams. On THE BPM she introduces Gadget Girl, a technologically advanced musician, and imagines a dazzling, chrome-plated future in which we’re all tapped into our own sense of rhythm. “No one can take away your rhythm from you – no one can take away your self-will,” she explains. The ideas she explores on the record all ultimately draw back to this one idea. “All those things can be your own power if you utilize them right.”
To get to that place, Sudan had to look back at her own history. THE BPM taps into her mother’s roots in Michigan and her father’s in Illinois. As well as embracing club sounds from Chicago and Detroit, it takes in everything from Jersey club to global dance music, with Sudan’s fiddle playing and elastic voice at the fore. Sudan Archives executive produced the album, working with a close circle of family and friends. Surrounded by this trusted team, Sudan was free to experiment and dig deep into her psyche for a record that’s both party-starting and vulnerable, high-energy and vividly personal.
Sudan Archives tours the UK & Europe this November, before a major tour of North America to kick off 2026. See below for all dates and buy tickets here.
SUDAN ARCHIVES ON TOUR
Nov 7 – Los Angeles, CA – Lodge Room Festival
Nov 27 – Berlin, DE – Betonhalle
Nov 29 – Amsterdam, NL – Paradiso
Nov 30 – Brussels, BE – Botanique – Orangerie
Dec 1 – Paris, FR – Le Trianon
Dec 3 – London, UK – The Roundhouse
Dec 4 – Manchester, UK – Academy 2
Dec 5 – Leeds, UK – Stylus
Dec 6 – Glasgow, UK – QMU
Dec 8 – Dublin, IE – The Academy
Jan 16 – Tucson, AZ – La Rosa
Jan 17 – Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
Jan 20 – Dallas, TX – Trees
Jan 21 – Austin, TX – Radio/East
Jan 23 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade Hell
Jan 24 – Asheville, NC – Orange Peel
Jan 25 – Washington DC – 9:30 Club
Jan 27 – Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
Jan 29 – New York City, NY – Webster Hall
Jan 30 – Boston, MA – Royale
Jan 31 – Montreal, QC – Le Studio TD
Feb 1 – Toronto, ON – The Great Hall
Feb 3 – Nashville, TN – The Basement East
Feb 5 – Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
Feb 6 – Madison, WI – Majestic Theatre
Feb 7 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line
Feb 10 – Denver, CO – Gothic
Feb 11 – Salt Lake City, UT – Complex in the Grand
Feb 13 – Portland, OR – Revolution Hall
Feb 14 – Seattle, WA – Neptune
Feb 15 – Vancouver, BC – The Pearl
Feb 18 – San Francisco, CA – Regency Ballroom
Feb 19 – San Diego, CA – Music Box
THE BPM tracklist
1. DEAD
2. COME AND FIND YOU
3. YEA YEA YEA
4. TOUCH ME
5. A BUG’S LIFE
6. THE NATURE OF POWER
7. MY TYPE
8. SHE’S GOT PAIN
9. DAVID & GOLIATH
10. A COMPUTER LOVE
11. THE BPM
12. MS. PAC MAN
13. LOS CINCI
14. NOIRE
15. HEAVEN KNOWS
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