Sudden Lights

Sudden Lights is a Latvian alternative rock band. The band consists of Kārlis Vārtiņš (bass guitar), Mārtis Matīss Zemītis (percussion), Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis (voice) and Kārlis Matīss Zitmanis (guitar).

The group was created in 2012 by Andrejs Reinis Zitmanis and Mārtiņš Matīss Zemītis, who studied at the Pāvuls Jurjānas music school at the time. In 2014, Kārlis Matīss Zitmanis and Kārlis Vārtiņš joined the group.

The first step on the way to growth for the group was the victory in the Riga State 1st Gymnasium’s young musicians competition Pirmā Plate in 2015. They reached the first place. It gave them the opportunity to record their song “Tik Savādi”. It became the first song released by Sudden Lights. Soon, the group’s debut album was created, with the singles “Suburban Waltz”, “Laikmets” and “Šājā sētas pāše” being released. The songs were immediately included in the rotations of Latvian radio stations. They released video clips for “Suburban Waltz” and “Šājā sētas pāše”.

On September 22, 2017, the group presented their debut album “Priekšpilsētas”. It contained 10 songs in both Latvian and English. The first self-organized concert, in which the songs of the album were played, took place at the Music House “Daile” on April 12, 2018. 

In 2018, the band took part in Supernova, the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. They reached the final and became the runner up there with the song “Just fine”.

Along with the presentation of the album “Par to zēnu ks sit skārdas bungas”,  They were going to open for Brainstorm. For the first time in the history of Sudden Lights, the group performed in front of thousands of listeners. 

With the singles “Negribu pizezemētis” and “Dzīvnieks” the group has announced a new album. It was released on October 11, 2019 and is the band’s second studio album “Vislabāk ir tur, kur manis nav”. At the end of February 2020, the group  went on its first Latvian concert tour with the same name. Due to measures to limit the spread of the virus “Covid 19”, the tour could not be finished.

In 2023, the group participated in the Supernova 2023 contest with the song “Aijā”. The group won the competition and got the right to represent Latvia in the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest. Unfortunately they didn’t manage to reach the final.