System Of A Down's Serj Tankian Releases New EP via AR App

System Of A Down frontman Serj Tankian is releasing a new EP Perplex Cities via the popular augmented reality application Arloopa.

Tankian is teaming up with Arloopa to premiere a new track from the solo EP every week for five weeks, with the first track Pop Imperialism premiering via the app now.

Tankian shared his enthusiasm for the Arloopa concept via Spin Magazine "I love the idea of appearing in the room with someone listening to my music,” Tankian enthuses. “It’s intimate, fun and different.” The full EP will be released on streaming services on October 21, through Tankian’s Serjical Strike label. 

Tankian reveals that Perplex Cities is distinctly different from what he has released in the past.  "Perplex Cities is a completely different sound than what I’ve done before. More electronic, subtle and deeper in terms of its layers of presentation musically. Perplex Cities gives off an aura that is unique and unlike my previous releases.”

Perplex Cities is the follow-up to the 2021 EP Elasticity and follows Tankian's release of an Armenian language protest song Amber in June.

Tankian also recently teamed up with The Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra for a live performance of his solo single Empty Walls. 

The performance took place in Yerevan, Armenia as part of Tankian's appearance at the Starmus Festival. You can watch that performance below. Empty Walls appears on Tankian's 2007 debut solo full-length Elect The Dead.

In 2020, System Of A Down raised over $600,000 after releasing their first new music after a 15-year hiatus. The heavy metal legends surprised fans when releasing Protect The Land and Genocidal Humanoidz, saying they were motivated by the "recently-erupted conflict in Artsakh and Azerbaijan to release new music to raise awareness & funds to aid the people of Artsakh and Armenia".  All proceeds made from the tracks went towards the humanitarian organization, the Armenia Fund.

In February, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson revealed that she's a big System Of A Down fan! Andersson let her love for the Armenian-American metal act slip during a chat with a Swedish national rock radio station Bandit Rock. 

Responding to a question about her music tastes asked by breakfast hosts Bollnäs-Martin and Richie Puzz  Andersson responds,

“When it comes to rock, it’s System of A Down.” Bollnäs-Martin was audibly rather pleasantly surprised by her choice, prompting the first female Prime Minister in Sweden's history to double down on her love of System Of A Down with a heartfelt and simply stated confirmation.

“Yes, they are really awesome!” Listen to the brief interview here.  System Of A Down's second studio album, Toxicity turned 20 last year. 

A genuinely game-changing record, featuring a fusion of metal and alternative sounds with folk, progressive rock, jazz, and traditional Armenian and greek musical stylings, Toxicity blasted the American-Armenian alt/nu-metal band to unforeseeable mainstream prominence.