Serj Tankian, the lead singer of System of a Down, said he will be releasing his EP Elasticity next year. The EP was originally going to be released this October, but Tankian put the project on hold when the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh War broke out in Armenia.
The EP will contain five songs that he began writing several years ago, intended to be for System of a Down. Tankian said the band was “unable to see eye-to-eye on continuing the future recordings,” so he decided to finish the songs and release them himself.
They are “really interesting and beautiful songs — going from really heavy type of System-esque type of music to really beautiful, ballady — including pianos and string arrangements and stuff like that,” Tankian told Rolling Stone.
He said the songs are thematically diverse, with one being about terrorism, one about protests in Armenia that took place years ago and one about his son, Rumi. He said he has filmed a music video for “Rumi,” which is expected to be the first single.
Tankian had originally announced plans to release an “EP of rock songs” initially intended for System of Down in May. In April, he released a classically-influenced song called “Hayastane,” with lyrics written by the Armenian Prime Minister. All proceeds went toward the My Step Foundation, an organization that supports public health, education, culture, social welfare and environmental causes in Armenia.
In November, the band raised over $600,000 for the people of Artsakh in the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh War after releasing two new tracks called “Protect The Land” and “Genocidal Humanoidz” via Bandcamp. All proceeds from the tracks went to the Armenia Fund. The songs were the band’s first new music in 15 years. They also released music video for “Protect The Land,” directed by Ara Soudjian and the group’s bassist Shavo Odadjian. In September, the Nova Rock music festival released its 2021 lineup, which features System of a Down along with Bring Me the Horizon, Korn, Muse and more.
Earlier this month, Tankian performed on an upcoming covers album, The Problem of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill and Gang of Four, which is set to be released May 14, 2021, to honor post-punk outfit Gang of Four and their late guitarist Andy Gill.
Featured image: Mauricio Alvarado
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