Sudan Archives – THE BPM

THE BPM keeps a close eye on its titular concern – namely, to keep it racing at almost all times and to drag you along for the ride. Sudan Archives' Brittney Parks continues to experiment with electronica and strings, red-level intensity and navel-gazing contemplation on her thrilling third album.

This all-caps affair goes deeper into the sounds of Detroit techno, Chicago house and Jersey club, managing to use them as jumping-off points amidst her whirling electronic effects and string arrangements. It could read as overstuffed – and at times, it can feel that way – but the sheer force of performance and skilled production more than carry the album.

The drums (programmed or live) and bass particularly stand out. The former are full of elastic snap, and when paired with Parks' rapidfire delivery on MY TYPE or the title track, the effect is like Joey Purp dosed with Ritalin. The injections of violin add colour and flourish this time round, rather than anchoring the sound as they did on Natural Brown Prom Queen, melding into the funk on COME AND FIND YOU and creating an organic counterpoint to the synth runs on A BUG'S LIFE.

The evocation of blurry, half-remembered nights full of booze, drugs, lust and music is a strength of Parks' snapshot writing style; it's blunt and to the point, though stops short of spelling everything out to the listener. MS PAC MAN is Parks' raunchiest outing to date, reminiscent of Rico Nasty in its full-throated profanity atop a bed of video game bleeps and gloopy effects. Moods swivel on a sixpence as we move from blissful hedonism to moving meditations on growth, complete with arboreal metaphors on LOS CINCI. But there's no jarring whiplash as the spontaneity feels organic throughout, as seen through lines that feel improvised on the spot: 'Speeding – no, he floats'; 'String me along / Interactive marionette-ish'.

A COMPUTER LOVE embodies the hybridised nature of the album, containing its most claustrophobic, warped production; blunt lyrics on social pressure; lyrics that bring out its human core despite the futuristic framing: a line like 'See the sand running through your fingers / And right then got some bad news in Costa Rica' stops you in your tracks on one of the most digital songs on the album. Like the rest of THE BPM, it's glorious mayhem that you simply have to surrender to.

Listen to: NOIRE, A BUG'S LIFE