Serj Tankian announces release date for new album

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and political activist Serj Tankian has postponed the street date of his new solo album, entitled Imperfect Harmonies, in order to package the recording in the same tree-free paper he has used for his previous releases, including Elect the Dead and Elect the Dead Symphony. The eco-friendly paper was not available to create the packaging for Imperfect Harmonies in time to make the previously announced street date of September 7th.

Serjical Strike/Reprise Records will now release Imperfect Harmonies on September 21st, 2010. The album is the second solo released from the System Of A Down frontman, following up his critically acclaimed 2007 solo debut Elect the Dead. As with Elect the Dead, Tankian produced Imperfect Harmonies himself at his home studio in Los Angeles.

"Where Elect the Dead was essentially a rock record with progressive melodic elements," Tankian says. "Imperfect Harmonies could be classified as rock because it is punchy with many peaks throughout, but the instrumentation is somewhat different. Though there are live drums, bass, and some guitars, the driving aspects are electronic and orchestral. It's quite unique in its sound palette. This is, in essence, music that has sat in the vat and matured to a ripe sensation and is now ready to serve.”

Imperfect Harmonies is as powerful and musically eclectic as its predecessor. "I have been calling the music 'electro-orchestral-jazz-rock' because it has all of those aspects in prominence within the songs,” Tankian says. "A few are more stripped down, but the majority of the songs have this huge wall of sound presented in a way I've never heard before. It's not common to have a song that is both electronic and orchestral since one is synthetic and the other organic, but I found a way of meshing a lot of these colors together."


The album has been influenced by Tankian's experience making Elect the Dead Symphony, a symphonic interpretation of his debut that had its inaugural performance in New Zealand with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra in March 2009. The performance has been captured on the CD/DVD Elect the Dead Symphony. "The making of Elect the Dead Symphony gave me the confidence and tools to create ensemble pieces for orchestra more confidently and effectively than before,” Tankian says. "And that became one of the primary colors for this record along with electronic, jazz, and live instrumentation.”



Tankian kicks off the Imperfect Harmonies World Tour in August with a series of European festivals and headlining shows, including appearances at Belgium's Pukkelpop and the Leeds and Reading festivals in the U.K. He will be accompanied by his backing band, "The F.C.C.” as well as an additional ensemble of musicians. All upcoming tour dates are as follows:



8/07 Pori, Finland Sonisphere Festival

8/09 Gothenburg, Sweden Tradgarn

8/10 Copenhagen, Denmark Vega

8/12 Yerevan, Armenia Hamalir

8/14 Sibiu, Romania ARTmania Festival

8/15 Burgas Bulgaria Spirit of Burgas Festival

8/17 Athens, Greece Terra Vibe Park

8/20 St. Polton, Austria Frequency Festival

8/21 Hasselt, Belgium Pukkelpop Festival

8/24 Hamburg, Germany Grosse Freiheit

8/25 Cologne, Germany E-Werk

8/27 Leeds, UK Leeds Festival

8/28 Reading, UK Reading Festival

8/30 Paris, France Bataclan

8/31 Zurich, Switzerland Sportzentrum Tagerhatd

9/01 Bologna, Italy Estragon

9/12 Calgary, AB Jack Singer Concert Hall

9/13 Edmonton, AB Winspear Centre

9/15 Vancouver, BC The Centre For Performing Arts

9/17 San Francisco, CA Nob Hill Masonic Center

9/18 Los Angeles, CA Greek Theatre*

9/20 San Diego, CA Humphreys

9/23 Austin, TX The Backyard

9/25 Detroit, MI Fox Theater

9/26 Chicago, IL House of Blues

9/28 Buffalo, NY Center For The Arts

9/29 Toronto, ON Queen Elizabeth Theatre

9/30 Montreal, QC St. Denis Theatre

10/02 Philadelphia, PA Keswick Theatre

10/03 New York, NY Hammerstein Ballroom

10/07 Tampa, FL Mahaffey Theater

10/08 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live @ Universal Studios

10/09 Miami Beach, FL Fillmore Miami Beach



*denotes Elect the Dead Symphony show

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Tags:  Serj Tankian, Serjical Strike   

Jason Fisher    August 09, 2010