Review: Sudan Archives at East Perth Power Station

Sudan Archives at East Perth Power Station
w/ Kayps
Sunday, March 1, 2026

Perth Festival has seen its second year at the East Perth Power Station in what can again be considered a resounding success. What better way to close out than with Sudan Archives, an artist truly on the ascendancy?

Opening the night was a revelation in Western Australian indigenous hip hop artist Kayps. Though not far past twenty years old, Kayps carried the set with an effortless cool and immediately made the crowd feel at home. He was having fun and reflected this outward, not a hard ask when his flow was so dextrous, fast and clear and his lyricism incisive. The backing production was stellar, as was the accompanying guitar work of Calvin Bennett, himself an accomplished producer and audio engineer. Whether it’s crunching power chords, chunky guitar riffing and soloing on Burn It Baby, or some clean jazzy runs on Sunny Walters, it was consistently excellent accompaniment to Kapys’ smooth delivery.

Kayps outlined his musical journey through Triple J Unearthed as well as his influences through his youth from both the hip hop and pop worlds. The latter was evident on Cut Me Up, an indie pop ballad that leant more towards Rex Orange County than RZA, and whose silky tones showed off Kayps’ vocal chops. Come My Way was another fun party number, and the set closed on the synthy and bouncy Skippy the Kangaroo, a final dash of fun to close out a stellar set.

Sudan Archives came on soon afterwards to an eager reception. This is the stage name for Cincinnati-born, LA-based singer, songwriter, violinist and oftentimes gadget queen Brittney Denise Parks. Sudan Archives has gone from strength to strength over the last few years, and 2025’s The BPM is arguably her best album yet, seeing the artist embrace ever more electronic textures and beats against her soulful vocals and calling-card violin playing. Against the more earthy modern classic in 2023’s Natural Born Prom Queen, her latest material is more metronomic, colder and razor sharp.

Fittingly, the album was recorded in Detroit alongside some of Parks’ family, and the musical lineage was all across this performance. The album and its cover see Sudan Archives take on the persona of Gadget Girl, a cybernetically enhanced being who uses technology to express herself but may arguably be enslaved, puppet-like, by it. This live performance saw Parks embrace the concept wholeheartedly, dressed in a cybernetic bodysuit and performing solo, with her voice, physicality and instruments as her modes of expression. Parks has said in the past that “I don’t need to play in the orchestra; I am the orchestra,” and this was proof of how, as she used an electric violin, synths and MIDI pads against backing tracks to craft her live sound.

The set opened with BPM track DEAD, which served as an energetic opener, and then went on to the stomping NOIRE, which Parks punctuated with some solitarily struck synth notes and distorted violin scrapes. It was a fine start, but it did highlight some limitations of the solo performance form. In sticking to backing tracks, often with loud and compressed sounds, Parks sometimes felt buried in the mix or too reliant on the backing track, as on another early number in COME AND FIND YOU. Having a rigid beat (and dare we say, BPM) also tied her vocal delivery to a specific cadence and didn’t allow her to stretch out as much as she is certainly capable of.

Such territory comes with the material, though, and numbers like the dancey TOUCH ME shone as a highlight of the new album and of the set as Parks’ vocals shone and she strutted her stuff across the stage. Contrasting this was the more organic tones of the older tune Nont for Sale, which featured some cool violin-plucked riffs and vocals. The earthy tones of Ciara followed, showcasing more of Parks’ violin and prompting a singalong to its hooky “cousin in Chicago” chorus, one of Sudan Archives’ best.

The hooks of Freakalizer rounded out the run of older tracks and gave way to MY TYPE, which saw Parks playing some interesting samples through her programmed pads. Parks was a delight on the mic throughout the night and commanded the stage confidently, her dancing effortless as she made dramatic use of the stage’s central podium. For A BUG’S LIFE however, the star turn came for an audience member who was given a chance on the podium herself, feeling the groove and giving Parks a run for her money.

The big basslines and assured power of Selfish Soul closed out the main set as the energy reached a fever pitch. It was surprising that this tune didn’t close out proceedings, but the encore made up for it with NATURE OF POWER, the latest album’s biggest tune and a showcase for Parks’ vocals and the soulful house groove underpinning her music. The house connection was solidified in a magical moment as Parks descended into the crowd and opened it up like a robot Moses, screaming “Who’s next?” as the crowd took turns to vogue across this makeshift catwalk. After this show of humanity, things went cyberpunk one final time as the set closed with The BPM. It was a track that, more than any other on the night, outshone its studio counterpart through sheer sonic energy. As Sudan Archives exited the stage and the lights came on, the song’s final refrain served as a grand summation of the night: “The BPM is the power.”

MATIJA ZIVKOVIC

Photos by Linda Dunjey