Watch Sudan Archives’ Stunningly Staged Fallon Performance

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Watch Sudan Archives’ Stunningly Staged Fallon Performance

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Sudan Archives has clearly put tons of thought into how she wants her late-night performances to go. Last year, after releasing her excellent album Natural Brown Prom Queen, Sudan Archives made her TV debut on Colbert, and she made it count. Last night, she was the musical guest on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, and she outdid herself.

On Fallon, Sudan Archives performed the deep cut “Homesick (Gorgeous & Arrogant),” which probably wasn’t an obvious choice. (You don’t often hear people talking about “I just want the D-I-C-K” on network television.) Her stage setup was its own kind of work of art. She sang in a cloud of dry ice, with her band members behind her on white-block risers strewn with rose petals. Sudan Archives herself had flowers in her hair and the bow of her violin mounted on her back, like it was He-Man’s sword, so that she could pull it out and play at the song’s climactic moment.

We should lay out everything that Sudan Archives backing band did, too. She had a trumpeter, a drum-machine person, a Thundercat-style bassist, and a guy — it’s actually veteran DJ and Stones Throw label boss Peanut Butter Wolf — who really and truly had one job. At a single point in the song, PBW had to hold up a glass of wine and ding it with a fork. A high-pressure situation! If you fuck that thing up, then the whole thing unravels! Fortunately, the man nailed it. Good job, Peanut Butter Wolf. Watch that guy do his job and the rest of the awesome performance below.

Natural Brown Prom Queen is out now on Stones Throw.

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