About Empti

It all started in 1993 when four like-minded musicians started making buzz on the underground scene of Vilnius with their drum'n'bass inspired material. Having chosen a nonsensical Empti moniker, the band gradually evolved into impressive disco/acid jazz act featuring the talent of singer Giedrė Vitkauskaitė - former singer of alternative rock bands Summerland and Dogbones. Empti took Lithuanian mainstream by storm in 1999 - with the arrival of Estrada, still considered one of the country's best pop albums ever. Featuring the airplay hits Saloje, Gera Mylėtis, Pabandyk, the collection earned Empti three Bravo awards (Lithuanian Grammys), including the prestigious gong for album of the year. Tragedy struck soon - death of keyboard player Darius Janušonis scarred the duo of Giedrė and instrumentalist Paulius Kilbauskas, resulting in lengthy hiatus after the release of second album Cunami (2001), a record which showcased a step into the realm of electronica. Most of the decade was spent on other projects - both musicians played in Overtone, Paulius formed interesting electronic music acts Bango Collective and Dublicate while Giedrė became the lead singer of brilliant Pieno Lazeriai. The duo reformed in 2008, causing fan frenzy and rave reviews of comeback gigs. With Pravda award for comeback of the year under the belt and new, r'n'b influenced songs getting lots of attention, the hopes are high for the band's new album, currently in progress. "We came back simply because during our hiatus no one in Lithuania made better pop music", - Paulius explains. They released a new album Fermata in 2010. Website: http://frype.lt/empti