Olimpia Splendid 2

Olimpia Splendid 2 is a follow up to their self titled debut album. The album features the single Nicotinella and is available in vinyl and digital format.

“This is Olimpia Splendid and this sound is solstice air, sharp wire on moss-dampened drumbeat, wood fire throwing shadows on all the warehouse walls. It is a whisper from the back of the throat, a chorus in the fog, a growl feeding back in triplicate.

To hear it better, ride your bike or take the bus to the second-to-last stop on the line; exit and follow the path away from the paved road and into the Finnish forest of silver birch and rowan for 500 meters until you come to the large granite outcropping – the one with a faded spray paint tag, speckled with fluorescent lichen in the shape of an old cat’s sly grin. The cave entrance is behind the slab – although you’ll surely feel it before you see it – and once you let yourself dematerialize into that long swirl of blue mist, you’ll see three figures slowly taking shape before you, like witches circling around a cauldron.

If mythology is real, then Olimpia Splendid is the band that the Graeae – the three blind seers of Perseus’ time – formed when they were younger, before they lost their sight and just after they bought their first drum machine. For Olimpia Splendid, music is the magical eye that the Graeae would pass between themselves – it is sound shared as vision, as bone-deep feeling, as electrical charge, as Total Being. Three as one, one as three, music as everything – including you.” Ben Russell, artist and filmmaker, January 2023

The Olimpia Splendid band was formed in Helsinki in 2010 by Heta Bilaletdin, Jonna Karanka and Katri Sipiläinen. Their music is made with weirdly tuned guitars, muddy drum machine loops, whispering vocals and trash can delays.

Second album by Olimpia Splendid was 8-track tape recorded and mixed by Ari Salonen and mastered by Samuli Tanner, with album cover art by the band themselves. Sara Milazzo makes a guest appearance on Pupuliini playing prepared toy samplers.

Also available on all digital platforms.

OLIMPIA SPLENDID 2 LP VINYL – TRACKLIST

A1 Pupuliini
A2 Jacksonin paita
A3 Agda
B1 Mimosa pudica
B2 Nicotinella
B3 Yolande

OLIMPIA SPLENDID 2 – REVIEWS

“Olimpia Splendid is a brilliant name for a band that aims to sound more or less like a broken household appliance. (The name is presumably taken from what is assumed to be the world’s most superior air conditioning brand).

In the Finnish underground scene, such an anti-surf concoction is a treasure. There isn’t an abundance of Finnish no-wave guitar wailing, and by definition, Olimpia Splendid falls into that category. Although, for example, the closing track “Yolande” is pure anarcho-shredding, the band’s approach still maintains a touch of humanity, avoiding excessive edginess based solely on instruments, much like their debut album from 2015, which, albeit sounding much more scattered.

“2” is a more deliberate album as a whole, without losing the spontaneous spirit of a portfolio album made up of contrasting pieces. The mood and approach tie the song material together, but the result is still refined, even proudly incoherent. While listening to the track “Agda,” I realize that if comparisons must be made, one could suggest that the band’s sound is reminiscent of Sonic Youth during the time of “Bad Moon Rising,” which is considered their best album.” – Soundi / Joni Kling