The technology Sudan uses is scrappy, not cutting-edge—she employs a vintage toolkit of a Roland SP-404 and DAWs emulating the drum machines that defined 1980s Chicago house and ’90s Detroit techno. For all of its post-human imagination—Sudan’s alter ego this time is “Gadget Girl,” a tech-augmented avatar—The BPM reaches deep into personal and cultural histories. In the three years since her last album, Sudan broke up with a long-time partner. If The BPM sounds like the sort of album that might actually win over the mainstream, it’s also Sudan’s grittiest release, less pristine than the widescreen Natural Brown Prom Queen. Sudan’s violin parts are as rousing as ever, given breadth and texture by members of the Chicago string quartet D-Composed.