Review: Sudan Archives turns heartbreak into big beats in “The BPM” tour stop at Thalia Hall

Sudan Archives had a message for everyone at Thalia Hall Thursday night: “The BPM is the power,” and harnessing it can make you superhuman.

It’s a lyrical mantra the artist (born Brittney Parks) continually repeats in the title track from her conceptual new album, also called “The BPM,” released last October. As the name suggests, beats per minute, referring to the tempo of music and the human heartbeat, is the focus. At its core, “The BPM” is a breakup album. But rather than hew to the tired cliches of the format, Parks creates a whole new world to explore her myriad feelings.

Across 15 thumping tracks and some dystopian cover art showing Parks tethered to cable wires like a cyborg puppet, the album imagines a futuristic utopia where finding your own rhythm can break the chains holding you back. And, if all else fails, it begs you to just dance.

Parks brought this idea to life at the Pilsen concert hall, with help from her newborn alter ego, Gadget Girl, who donned eerie contact lenses and at points laughed maniacally to bring out the big character energy.

The animated violinist/singer, who just celebrated her 31st birthday while on tour, is known to be a wild card in her performances, but “The BPM” tour unlocked a whole new level of performance art that took cues from sci-fi classics such as “Blade Runner” and “The Matrix.”

As Parks told the sold-out room, this is her first tour with actual production and lighting (and a very active smoke machine), and she used those textural elements to create a hypnotic 90-minute experience not too far off from the raves she came of age in as a young person.

True to the Sudan Archives brand, Parks’ violin was still a powerful tool of the night that she used for her signature blend of classic folk, contemporary hip-hop, R&B and electro pop. Every time she removed a bow from her leather sachet, a sword sound effect followed, emphasizing the instrument’s stature as her musical weapon of choice.

But this time, the violin was also the least used in her arsenal of machinery that she manipulated to create a sonic tapestry. Instead, synths, vocal loops, drum machines and other programming wizardry were her biggest muses, which she Frankensteined into a beast on club track “Yea Yea Yea,” the fast-paced rap gem “NBPQ (Topless)” and the pop declaration “Selfish Soul.”

For the wild tango of “Freakalizer,” Parks sought out a good dancer in the crowd, eventually locking on to a woman with red dreads who had a similar aesthetic to the artist, and invited her up to the go-go dancing platform on the stage. Later, Parks joined the crowd on the floor and parted the audience for a mock catwalk where anyone could sashay, with many taking the opportunity to do so and let it all go in the process.

The setlist Thursday enabled all the movement. Many of the dance tracks, including “My Type” and “A Bug’s Life,” had obvious Chicago house roots. The city and its music traditions have always been part of Sudan Archives’ DNA as her father’s side hails from here, and Parks paid homage to that lineage on this new album.

“This my family hometown! Where my family at?” she beckoned, looking up to the balcony where some were seated, including her cousin Ciara, who Parks name drops in a new song of the same name. Much of “The BPM” was also recorded in Chicago, giving the Thalia Hall concert a special homegrown vibe.

It was just a shame there wasn’t an opportunity to have D-Composed involved. The Chicago-based Black chamber music collective was influential in contributing some string arrangements to the new album. But to be fair, having extra personnel would’ve taken away from the one-woman show Parks brought forth where she masterfully controlled the narrative of the night — save for a special guest in the encore, opener Cain Culto.

The two led a riotous performance of Culto’s loaded hit “KFC Santeria” (Sudan Archives recently contributed to a remix of the popular track). The remix features a lyric declaring “F— Trump, F— ICE, Free Palestine,” which was one of a handful of the night’s political statements. Chicago-based opener Dreamer Isioma — backed by an ad hoc dance collective with a rotating cast of characters — had a few anti-ICE moments and wished everyone a happy Black History Month.

Parks mostly let her music speak for itself with songs like “NBPQ (Topless)” that commented on her experience as a Black woman working in entertainment, with raw lyrics: “Sometimes I think that if I was light-skinned, then I would get into all the parties, win all the Grammys, make the boys happy.” But as the song evolves, so does her point of view, ultimately embracing the fact that she’s not “average.” Because if “The BPM” beats to any particular clock, it’s Parks’ own, with an artistic statement of who she really is and what makes her tick.

SUDAN ARCHIVES SETLIST

Dead
Noire
Yea Yea Yea
NBPQ (Topless)
Touch Me
Nont For Sale
Ciara
Come And Find You
Freakalizer
My Type
A Bug’s Life
Ms. Pac Man
She’s Got Pain
A Computer Love
Come Meh Way
Heaven Knows
Selfish Soul

Encore:

KFC Santeria (Cain Culto song, with Cain Culto)
The Nature Of Power
The BPM