May 16, 2024 |
London-based producer and songwriter System Olympia has the secret sauce for creating music drenched in attitude and sensuality. Today, she drops Sanctified, a four-track EP that affirms her status as a master of musical seduction; a charming dominatrix of the underground scene who also has a talent for resonant lyricism. The title track, which features British band Working Men’s Club, is a synth-backed combination of echoing vocals and intimate poetry with a sweetly melancholic aftertaste. The other songs are a lesson in musical diversity, with the introductory ‘Luce Rossa’ taking form as the perfect soundtrack to accompany a pulsing romance that builds slowly over time, whilst the closing ‘Mi Dimentico’ opts for a slower pace flavoured with a sense of self-assurance.
There’s a confidence that imbues this new release which Olympia carries around with her throughout all that she does. Adding accomplished DJ to her long list of sonic forays, the musician hosts a monthly residency on NTS, where her well-formulated mix of R&B, synth-pop and dance music is silky smooth and easy on the ears. Inspired by a fusion of erotic literature, club culture and romance, the Italian artist has finessed an individual sound more than most ever could. Primarily releasing her music on her self-founded label Okay Nature Records, System Olympia is the judge, jury and executioner of her delectable sonic style.
Post-EP release, life is looking busy for the artist. After making a stop at Leeds’ Headrow House in April, Olympia is heading to Italy’s Sanremo for Botanica Festival before jetting off to Brussels for Paradise City, Cluj in Romania for Electric Castle and Lincolnshire for Lost Village. Despite a fair few years in the game, it feels like System Olympia is just getting started, and we can’t wait for what’s to come. Here we chatted with the artist about what themes dominate her music, her dream collaboration and favourite way to spend a Saturday night.
1. Let’s get acquainted – who is System Olympia?
“I am a woman who fulfils the demands of her existence by transcending reality through art, literature and music. I try to contribute to a common record of truth and beauty. I sometimes shut down my thinking mind and get lost in letting my emotions run. I channel all of that into sound. I record it, mix it, press it on vinyl and sell it.”
2. If your sonic style was a cocktail, which one would it be?
“It would be a drink that looks clear like water, but intoxicating. It would bring your inhibition down and make you realise some comforting universal truths. It would come in an ’80s art deco glass and have a maraschino cherry on top.”
3. What themes do you explore the most in your music?
“The feeling of longing for emotional and physical completeness. The innate, finite nature of all things. The research of timelessness.”
4. What inspired your new EP, Sanctified?
“It’s an ensemble of songs that reflect a specific time of my life when I got close again to a specific part of myself. A part I thought I had let go for good.”
5. You dropped the first single from the EP, ‘Sanctified’ feat. Working Men’s Club in April – why did you decide this should be the first track to be released?
“This song is like a pause of momentary redemption. I spent many years chasing things that now don’t make any sense to me. This song is a little rite of passage, a moment of clarity that serves as an introduction to another chapter.”
6. You have such a distinct visual language as well as a unique sound – what are your main points of reference when developing your imagery?
“My main points of references are all inside me. I’ve carried them with me my whole life. It’s the movies I’ve watched secretly while my mom was sleeping. It’s the lust I’ve seen in men’s eyes in my hometown growing up. The fear that made me hide my libido as a woman until I was able to free myself. All these things we absorb and hide, at some point manifest themselves and I am lucky I am able to package them into something that some people find pleasant and amusing to both their ears and eyes.”
7. You have a monthly show on NTS – what is the perfect setting to tune into a System Olympia broadcast?
“Headphones on while you’re folding laundry on a monday night, dreaming about another life.”
8. If you could collab with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be?
“I wish I could make another song with Elliott Yorke.”
9. Favourite way to spend a Saturday night?
“In bed with someone I like, with food and music and movies like we live in that bed – for one night.”
10. What’s coming up for you in the next few months that fans can get excited about?
“I have a special single coming out in October, and I hope I can do shows in countries where people have been waiting to see me perform for a little while.”
