Serj Tankian to release new EP Perplex Cities via AR

Serj Tankian in phone via AR next to image of Serj Tankian performing — (Image credit: Serj Tankian, Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)

Serj Tankian has announced that he will be releasing the new EP Perplex Cities via an augmented reality app.

The System Of A Down frontman will be dropping a track a week through Arloopa, which will also allow Tankian to appear "in the same space as the listener-viewer to explain the music and listen along.” It's first single, Pop Imperialism, arrived yesterday on September 19.

In other words, you'll be able to see Tankian in your home through your phone camera, as if he's really there in front of you.

Speaking of this new innovative method of releasing music, he tells Rolling Stone in a statement, "I’m always trying to create new and interesting ways to connect with people via my music. We made some amazing videos for the last EP Elasticity, so I wanted to try something different for Perplex Cities. I love the idea of appearing in the room with someone listening to my music. It’s intimate, fun, and different.”

The follow-up to 2021 EP Elasticity will also be officially released on October 21 through Tankian’s Serjical Strike label.

Check out preview footage of the app at work below:

Perplex Cities tracklisting:

Pop Imperialism
The Race
I Spoke Up
Rumi Loves His Cars
Forgive Me Father

Earlier this year, System of a Down drummer John Dolmayan hit out at his bandmates for the band's creative stasis.

While speaking to YouTuber Sona Oganesyan in an interview, Dolmayan stated that he believed System "have become more and more successful in spite of our best efforts to ruin it."

"We haven't made an album since 2005 "he explained, "we barely tour, we don't do interviews, we don't do press, we're almost completely sundered from the music business and yet we have more and more [offers] to play every year."

"Obviously we still have something to give to the world," the drummer continues. "We have this gift, right, that came from God or wherever, and we’re squandering it... It’s an insult to everybody else that tries to make it in whatever endeavour they’re trying to make. And here we are – we’ve made it, we have the talent, we have the ability, we have an adoring fanbase, we’ve sold, I don’t know, whatever it is – 30 million albums or more – and they’re hungry for it, and we just don’t do it."

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Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.