About "Sudden Lights"

Sudden Lights is one of the fastest growing, most sought after and streamed artists in Latvia. They play a combination of pop rock with slight indie touches. Band’s music is characterized by catchy melodies perfect for dancing with a melancholic note or two along the way, and it all permeates with youthful energy.

The band is comprised of Kārlis Vārtiņš (bass guitar), Mārtis Matīss Zemītis (percussion), Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis (voice) and Kārlis Matīss Zitmanis (guitar). The band was launched in 2012 and is still active.

 In 2023, the band took part in the song contest Supernova 2023 organized by Latvian Television with the song Aijā, where they won 1st place, as well as the chance to represent Latvia in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.

History

The band was formed in 2012 by all members, who were then students at Pāvuls Jurjāns' Music School. The first stepping stone on the path to growth for the band was their victory in the Riga State 1st Gymnasium's Pirmā plate competition for young musicians in 2015. The band's reward for winning first place, was the opportunity to record their original song Tik savādi. This was the first song to be released by Sudden Lights. Their subsequent creative efforts culminated in the band's debut album, which was preceded by the singles Priekšpilsētas valsis, Laikmets and Šajā sētas pusē, which were immediately given playing time by Latvian radio stations. Meanwhile, music videos were released for the songs Priekšpilsētas valsis and Šajā sētas pusē.

Album "Priekšpilsētas" (2017)

On 22 September 22 2017, Sudden Lights presented their debut album Priekšpilsētas, which is made up of 10 songs in both Latvian and English. The band's first self-organized concert, in which they performed songs from the album took place at the Daile Music House on 12 April 2018. The band was joined on stage by Latvian musician Tīna Šipkēvica. The album brought the a band a Golden Microphone 2018 nomination for best debut.

LTV Supernova 2018

At the beginning of 2018, the band took part in Supernova 2018 with the final song of its debut album, Just Fine. Initially, the band failed to qualify for the semi-finals, but the jury and the Latvian Television team gave them a second chance, or Wild Card. And having received a second chance to take part in the competition, the boys performed in the final and finished 2nd.

Brainstorm Skārda bungu tūre

While presenting the album Par to zēnu, kurš sit skārda bungas, the band Brainstorm announced that Sudden Lights would join accompany them on their Latvian tour as the support act for all five concerts. For the first time in Sudden Lights' history, the band performed in front of thousands of listeners. The tour finale took place in Riga on the Mežaparks Grand Stage.

Second studio tour and concert tour

With the singles Negribu piezemēties and Dzīvnieks, the band has announced a new album Vislabāk ir tur, kur manis nav. It was released on 11 October 2019 and is the band's second studio album. The album was produced by Jānis Aišpurs, with whom the band had already collaborated on several singles. The album presentation was held at SC Spice.

In late February 2020, Sudden Lights" embarked on their first Latvian concert tour Vislabāk ir tur, kur manis nav. The first concert was held on 21 February 21 2020 at the Valmiera Culture Centre, while the next concerts took place in Liepaja (at the Wiktorija Culture House) and Aluksne (at the Aluksne Culture Centre). The final concert of the tour was scheduled for 20 March 2020 at Hanzas Perons in Riga. However, the concert was postponed indefinitely, due to measures to limit the spread of Covid 19.

Third studio album and collaborations

The band's 2020 collaboration with "Astro'n'out", that is, the song Haosā won the Golden Microphone 2021 Award as Radio Hit of the Year[8]. In January 2021, the band started work on their third studio album together with producer Jānis Aišpurs. The first single of the forthcoming album is Klusumi, which was released in April 2021. Outside of writing the album, on which the band collaborated with the singer ANNNA, in remote sessions on the ZOOM platform, the song and radio single Aizņem man vietu was recorded. In August 2021, the next single of the forthcoming album Siltas vasaras ēnā was released. This was followed on 25 February 2022 by the release of the single Laternas. The band's third studio album A Miljards vasaru was presented on May 13, 2022 in the Small Hall at Splendid Palace, with the band giving a small concert and presenting a documentary film about the production of the album.

https://izklaide.tv3.lv/muzika/sudden-lights-albuma-miljards-vasaru-tapsana-iemuzinata-isfilma/

"It all started in the early spring, two years ago in early spring, when we met in the country house, where we usually hold our creative camps. When the outdoor temperature is +5 degrees, we miss the summer. Also with our previous albums, the guiding motif was longing for what we don't have without appreciating the things we already have. Longing for summer fits into this theme precisely. I really liked Arstarulsmirus' song Atvadas vasarai, which was released in May and in which he quoted Raimonds Pauls. I liked the idea expressed at the start of the song that summers in Latvia are so short that we can say farewell to them at the very beginning, which I completely agree with. I'm already starting to long for next summer. Thus, nostalgia and sentiment permeate our album," explains Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis.

Parallel to the release of the album, the single Pāris neuzņemtu foto was released. In the summer of 2022, - the song Pasaule trīc, a collaboration between Sudden Lights and ZEBRENE was released. In the summer, Sudden Lights performed at the festivals Summer Sound, Positivus, Saldus Saule and Limbizkvīts, the Grand Latvian Music Concert, as well as at festivals in Jekabpils, Ventspils, Sigulda, Aizkraukle, Madona, Daugavpils and other cities.

In the autumn of 2022, the band worked on its plan for a tour of Latvia, attracting the rapper ZEĻĢIS as a special concert guest. Jasmīns, a song jointly performed by Sudden Lights and ZEĻĢIS was also recorded during this period. The Miljards vasaru tour took place with concerts on 17 September in Jelgava (at the Black Hats Ballerina), September 23 in Valmiera (at the Valmiera Concert Hall), on September 24 in Liepaja (at the Wiktorija Culture Centre), and on October 8 at Hanzas Perons in Riga. The final concert of the tour at Hanzas Perons in Riga was also filmed as a concert video, Final Concert of Sudden Lights' Concert Tour Miljards vasaru.

2023

The band received five Golden Microphone '23 nominations for best pop album and best concert recording. Meanwhile, two songs received Elvi Song of the Year nominations, and the album design also received a nomination.

On January 28, 2023, the band finished runner-up in the Musical Bank song survey with the song Laternas. 

In 2023, the band participated in the Supernova 2023 contest with its song Aijā. They duly won the competition and the right to represent Latvia in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.

In my opinion, the lullaby is the most beautiful and loving form of music. Witnessing the dark events in the world and people's lives ruined by evil, we could not remain indifferent. That's how the song came to be in English - it is our attempt to comfort everybody who is hurt by the events going on around us. The title of the song is in our native language, and reflects the mood of a Latvian folk song - in a word that's impossible to translate," says Sudden Lights soloist Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis, explaining the song's meaning.

Musicians

Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis - VOCALS, GUITAR, CLARINET, 
KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS

Kārlis Matīss Zitmanis - GUITAR,
HARMONICA, BACKING VOCALS

Kārlis Vārtiņš - BASS GUITAR,
BACKING VOCALS

Mārtiņš Matīss Zemītis - DRUMS, 
PERCUSSION, BACKING VOCALS