Olimpia Splendid - "2" LP

Fonal Records and Kraak Records are proud to co-release the long awaited second album by Olimpia Splendid titled “2” on 17th March 2023 on vinyl and digital platforms.

“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

Olimpia Splendid 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.

The new album 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.