A Cosmic Trip Inside System Olympia
System Olympia is one of our favourite artists right now. Her music is a sensual blend of synths, lofi electro, disco, and 80s style electronica all sprinkled with signature erotic tones, and subtly tinted with a soft nostalgic feeling, reminiscent of your first romance. She describes her sound as “night rides in my Mercedes Benz” and we can absolutely imagine gliding through a cosmic wasteland at dusk with the roof down, whenever we indulge.
She’s a very talented song-writer, an incredibly good DJ, and generally possesses an enthralling character that we have been desperate to explore. So, we asked a few cosmic questions to deep dive into her unique world, touching on her taste, past, present, future, and more... take a trip inside her imagination below.
Harry: You’re watching a lunar sunset as you relax on a deck chair on the surface of the moon, whilst sipping a cocktail and coming down from a day of tripping... Which DJ/musician/friend do you want providing the soundtrack?
Francesca: If I was on the moon, relaxing to a sunset, I think I would want someone playing the piano. Maybe Duval Timothy playing piano with an effects pedal. He'd be there playing and I would be on my own somewhere else listening. We're in space, everything is loose and I would leave my loneliness on earth because loneliness doesn't exist in space. We're all alone and ok with it like the planets. Do you know that when galaxies collide nothing happens because everything in them is so far apart ? Galaxies collide in silence.
So, you’re relaxing to the sounds of Duval Timothy in your own cosmic world... You receive a phone call from a secret billionaire, who has devised a plan to take partying to the next level. They have an unlimited budget to build a super club on the moon, and some very lucky ravers will be flown out to join you in your cosmic setting. The secret billionaire wants you to design a club that encompasses everything special that you have experienced about the clubs on earth. What different rooms do you have?
I would take the chance and create the club I always desired but never found on Earth. A club where in every room everybody does exactly what they want. One room with a huge dancefloor where DJs play what they listen to at home. A room where we smoke opium and caress each other listening to songs that broke our hearts on Earth. One room for love making, one room for sex. One with a warm swimming pool.
Who would you invite to play music in these rooms? Any favourite friends / artists that people may not be as familiar with who you would have at the party?
I try to do this every time I have a party, I always invite my friends to come DJ, but it doesn’t happen. One person would be my good friend from LA, Jason, AKA DXJX - he did one one song with me, ‘My Lincoln’ as part of my New Erotica Collection. He’s a very amazing and talented person and DJ, but he doesn’t release anything because he’s a bit crazy. But he would defo be on the bill that night playing all the songs he's been hoarding.
I like to invite people to DJ that don’t usually DJ. There’s a lot of people in the world that play records because they love music, but don’t DJ. I find these people are really amazing at playing because they don't have the pressure of performing. So I think I would like to have a bunch of people who just come and bring their records from home.
You mentioned Jason, your friend from LA. Can you tell us about your time there, the music scene you were involved with, and how this has impacted on you?
When I was there in mid-2000s, it was all about making music, I was more into a different scene back then. The time I was there it was Dilla time. The people I was going out with were releasing Dilla's last record ‘Jay Love Japan’. It was more about Madlib, Jaylib, hip hop instrumentals, Flying Lotus and the whole Low End Theory scene. I used to go to Low End Theory a lot which was run by Daddy Kev from Alpha Pub and they had a night every Wednesday where you would go and everyone would play their own beats. It was a very exciting, inspiring moment because it was a time where music went from hip hop to hip hop instrumentals to a whole new exciting genre. It was Flying Lotus and all those guys who turned beats into a genre. LA for me was not much more than this, I don’t think I ever went to a proper club where I experienced house music or anything like that. We would be at home surrounded by vintage gear and our life was music from morning to night.
I got into dance music when I came to London. I didn’t know anybody, but I met some people, one of my first friends was the founder of NTS so I was really lucky. Then my friend Blu Jemz (RIP) from NYC came to London and twe went on a night out with Benji B and he took us to Plastic People at 2/3am. I remember I found myself in this dark room, I’d never seen a club like that, such a dark room where people didn’t care about each other. Everyone was lost in the music, that was mind blowing for me and where I really got started on the London club scene. Now I’m in a club every weekend, playing all over the world.
Do you remember who was playing when you first went to Plastic People?
I don’t, but my friends were playing all the time there. So many people, it was a dream of a club.
So, would you have a Plastic People inspired room at this super club?
No. That stays in the past.
What sort of set would you want to play? Would you want to play as long as possible? Or close? Or peak time?
The most fun I have now is when the club is packed, everyone’s ready for me, it’s 1/2am, and I play two hours at peak time. That's my favourite right now. I used to really enjoy opening, building it up. But now I really enjoy the peak time, straight into the zone. But having said that, I just did my first 5h set, my open till close at Night Tales a month ago. I played for 5h and really got the chance to build something, from 80pm to 130bpm over five hours, that was really fun and I really enjoyed that, so it’s also very cool.
You have one guest list allocation, who’s it going to be? What will they bring to the party?
I would bring someone who thought life wasn't fun anymore and show them that there is a place somewhere where you're allowed to be who you really are and be loved for everything that you want to be. They would bring the hope of another chance and it would be fulfilled.
After the party ends, you have some time to explore. You pay a visit to an extraordinary record shop on the dark side of the moon. The shop looks and feels thousands of years old. Upon entering, you notice the shelves are empty and there are no records in sight. Suddenly, the owner of the store appears; he’s a time traveller and says he will travel to get you one record from the history of music on earth that you’ve never been able to get your hands on. What do you pick?
Madcliff - Madcliff.
So you’ve got the repress but really want the original...
Yeah I’ve got the repress, but I don’t like represses. I like to buy originals, not because I’m a collector, but when you buy an original the record is old, messed up, the cover isn’t pristine, but say it’s 30 years old, those 30 years show on the sleeve. If I buy a record from 1985, brand new from Rough Trade it doesn’t mean anything to me. I don’t like represses like that. I'll just listen to it on Spotify. I do the same with books, I always try to find an original copy.
So when I press my records, I always do different editions, so people know which edition it is. I preserve the first press, so the first edition is one cover, and the second will be the same but there will be a certain detail on it that tells you it’s the second edition. I care a lot about these things.
Tell us more about the record…
It’s just one song on the record that I love, the sleeve is nice but not remarkable. It’s just the song which means a lot to me. There’s a lot of records I really care about, one other is Alice Coltrane - Eternity, and I actually managed to find the original of that on Discogs recently. So I’m really happy I have it. I’m not a crazy record collector who buys loads of records, I just buy ones that really mean something to me.
The fun doesn't end there... The mysterious time traveller goes into the back room of the shop and pulls out a remarkable machine which enables you to bring back any musician in history to join you for a one-off moon studio session. Who’s it going to be, what kind of musical project would you create... how would you spend your time with them?
I’m not great at being in the studio with other musicians, I don’t work with many people and when I do, I do it remotely most of the time because I need my own space in order to be able to create freely. Creating is a very intimate process for me. Most of my collabs come from people I was intimate with at some point - I need to break a certain wall with people in order to create something valuable together. Otherwise I just send stems back and forth.
At the back room of the record shop, dangling in the dark corner is a cosmic mirror ball which allows you to see into your future. What would you like to see for the future of System Olympia?
I wouldn’t want to see, I wouldn’t even look. I find comfort in thinking that the future is completely unknown and anything is possible. I'd rather fantasize about my future rather than knowing anything about it.
Musically, with what you’re doing at the moment, did you envision yourself doing that when you started?
No. Matter of fact I tried to give up music many times, but music never gave up on me.
So you just have to let it go on its course a bit...
Yeah, as a person I’m not strategic, I have a very romantic approach to things in life and music in general, so I like the idea of things and then work very hard to achieve them. But I’m totally ok with the thought of not achieving anything. I sit down and write a song, my song has no purpose, my records have no purpose, they just exist for that moment. So I never thought I’m going to make this next because I want to do this next and play this gig… I don’t work like this and couldn’t if I wanted to. I just hope I can make more money so I can buy some homes, cars and boats.
Is there a place you want to be with your boat and car? Do you like London or is there somewhere else in mind?
I love London and hope I can always have a place here, but I’m Italian and also want to spend time in Italy because to me it feels like a giant warm uterus to return to when life gets too much. So I want to spend more time there when I make more money and I can relax a bit more and have a simple, comfortable life there, with a little boat to spend my weekends on.
After a pretty crazy trip, you begin your descent to earth. Are you overwhelmed by how it’s a tiny fragile spec amidst the cosmic ocean, or comfortable knowing there are so many possibilities out there for us?
I’m very interested in science, cosmology and watch a lot of stuff about it. I used to have a lot more anxiety and used to be very existential, and do lots of therapy because I couldn’t find the meaning of life for years. Music and nothing was never enough. Then one day I watched a science documentary about how everything is going to end, the sun is going to expand and go cold, and all the stars are going to die, at some point everything will end and there will be dark matter forever, and that gave me such a relief. It gave me peace immediately : we’re all going to die, the sun will die and everything will die, so why worry about anything. It was total freedom for me, and now anytime I have problems, I think we’re going to total darkness anyway. It's fine.
And it gives you peace rather than anxiety, knowing that?
Yeah, other people think that’s so depressing, but I think it’s beautiful and it gave me freedom from having to find a meaning. There is no meaning, this is literally it.
So you’re a nihilist, is what you’re saying..? I guess maybe that situation, floating through the vast cosmos might also make you feel how crazy the universe is, and make you think there might be more out there, more to just darkness at the end of it all...
I feel like it's actually the opposite. When you stop projecting meaning into things, you validate their mere existence and that is enough.
I find a great sense of peace in looking at people the way I look at a mountain, or the sea. They are what they are and everything in this universe is a constant disassemble/reassemble of the same elements in an ever changing combination of possibilities. Sometimes the elements fuse together magically - like when a new star is born, or a new love, or just another song.
Photographs kindly provided by System Olympia. If you have any questions or would like to discuss this article or any other with us - don't hesitate to get in touch.