Empath is an American

noise punk Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extreme l ...

band. They have released one album and several EPs, and are currently signed to

Fat Possum Records Fat Possum Records is an American independent record label based in Water Valley and Oxford, Mississippi. At first Fat Possum focused almost entirely on recording previously unknown Mississippi blues artists (typically from Oxford or Holly Sprin ...

History

Empath was formed by Catherine Elicson, Jem Shanahan and Garrett Koloski in 2015 whilst the three were roommates in Philadelphia. Elicson had recently moved from

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, where she had been in the bands Goners and Katherine. Koloski was then the drummer in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. With a population of 148,620 and a Syracuse metropolitan area, metropolitan area of 662,057, it is the fifth-most populated city and 13 ...

band Perfect Pussy. The trio recorded ''Crystal Reality Volumes 1 & 2''. They began recording what would become ''Liberating Guilt and Fear'' in 2016 with Koloski's former bandmate, Shaun Sutkus. After Coon joined in 2017, he recorded his parts that autumn. It was mastered by Greg Saunier of

Deerhoof Deerhoof is an American musical group formed in San Francisco in 1994. It consists of founding drummer Greg Saunier, bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki, and guitarists John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez. Beginning as an improvised noise punk band ...

and eventually released by

Get Better Records Get Better Records is an American independent record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. History and background The label was founded by Alex Lichtenauer and Nick King in 2009 in Keene, New Hampshire. King left the label in 2010; Get Bet ...

in 2018. That same year they released a 7" titled ''Environments'', named in tribute to

Irv Teibel Irving Solomon Teibel (October 9, 1938 – October 28, 2010) was an American field recordist, graphic designer, and photographer. His company, Syntonic Research, Inc., is best known for its influential '' environments'' psychoacoustic recording ...

's 1970s

album series An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

of the same name. In 2018, the band released their debut LP ''Active Listening: Night on Earth'', once again through Get Better Records. The positive reception led to their signing to

, who immediately reissued the record - along with a vinyl pressing of ''Liberating Guilt and Fear'' for the first time. In late 2021, Empath announced their second album, entitled ''Visitor'', would be released on 11 February 2022.

Members

* Catherine Elicson (guitar and vocals) * Jem Shanahan (synthesiser) * Randall Coon (synthesiser) * Garrett Koloski (drums)

Discography

Albums

*''Active Listening: Night on Earth'' –

, 12" LP, MP3 (2019) /

, 12" LP, MP3 (2019) *''Visitor'' – Fat Possum Records, 12" LP, MP3 (2022)

Extended plays

*''Crystal Reality Vol. 1'' – Self released, Cassette, MP3 (2016) *''Crystal Reality Vol. 2'' – Self released, Cassette, MP3 (2016) *''Liberating Guilt and Fear'' – Get Better Records, Cassette, MP3 (2018) *''Environments'' – Get Better Records, 7" single, MP3 (2018)

References

{{Reflist American punk rock groups Punk rock groups from Pennsylvania Musical groups from Philadelphia Musical groups established in 2015 2015 establishments in Pennsylvania