Sudan Archives Levels Up

Sudan Archives
Union Transfer
1026 Spring Garden St.
Philadelphia
Jan. 27, 2026

Say what you want about him, but Meek Mill never lied when he told us there's levels to this shit. I’ve never really been a solo artist, but I do know enough about performance and stagecraft to recognize how hard an individual has to work to rock an audience on their own. Sudan Archives is a definitive multi-hyphenate; a violinist, singer, pianist, rapper, percussionist, and programmer who combines all of this into a comprehensive sound that largely defies categorization.

Calling her a pop artist feels too easy, like it falls outside the acknowledgement of how progressive her song structures are. Sudan Archives’s sound doesn’t feel inherently crafted for mass commercial appeal because it’s so genuinely a product of an individual inviting the world in, rather than trying to push herself out to the world. Sure, there are elements of various forms of club music and R&B, which in the 21st century are synonymous with “pop,” but before Lizzo and that flute, you weren’t really seeing a lot of orchestral instruments paired with choreography and autotune. Well, except that one time:

Steve Harvey Dancing Trombone

At a number of points throughout her set, Sudan Archives played different instruments to her own pre-programmed accompaniments within the same song. Sometimes she’d play a melody on piano, other times, a beat on the Roland SPD sampler she had set up. If you know anything about me, you know I loved that shit. In between songs, she perfectly timed shards of choreography and banter with samples that seemingly had no cues, like the sword sound that emerged when she would whip out her bow, a woosh of wind accompanying a dramatic movement. It was a masterclass in the power of rehearsal. At these points, I had the same thought each time, “Damn, this is really what it takes. This is how hard you have to go. This right here is some showmanship.” This is the level you have to be at when you play left-of-center music. This is the level of knowledge, skill, and talent you have to have if you want to do what people will inevitably think of (at least, a little) as avant-garde shit. And you have to somehow not scare people off with all you have to offer. It takes balance. It’s not that Sudan Archives couldn’t be on Power 99, but the simple fact is that nothing even close to it is.

And then she pulled out the Flying V Violin, a 5-string model the likes of which I, in my 33 years of life, have never seen. I wish I could’ve gotten a video of it but I was a little too transfixed. My bad. She’s truly a force with that thing though. Like, dude, she fucking shreds. Singing and playing violin simultaneously is truly Sudan Archives’ bread and butter. She’s a picture of confidence, wielding it as though it’s an extension of herself, another appendage. It’s clear she’s been with the violin a long time, and watching her, I can’t help but feel as though she may consider it her main tool of expression.

Utilizing both a headset mic and a house SM58, everyone in the audience also witnessed the wonder and raw power of her singing voice. There were points where she’d hit notes that reminded me of the Ukrainian genius Vitas or Diva Plavalaguna from The Fifth Element which, coupled with her outfit that reminded me vaguely of Zero-Suit Samus, really drove home the futurism of her show. The sophistication of her live setup, the intricacy of her performance, and the technicality of her playing can’t be understated, and I truly left Union Transfer feeling inspired and educated.