Los Angeles Times, CA
Calendar Live
July 15 2007
Tankian works outside the System
Band, orchestra or artist:
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By August Brown; Geoff Boucher, Times Staff Writer
SYSTEM OF A DOWN’S Serj Tankian is one of modern metal’s most popular
singers. He’s fond of wry political laments howled over demented
guitar thrash tempered with Armenian folk. He is also a gentle
protector of insects.
When an errant moth flew into the living room of his Calabasas home
while Tankian served rosewater tea, he rushed to cup his hands around
it and set it free out the back door. It was a sweet gesture from a
vocalist whose most well-known chorus lyric is "I don’t think you
trust in my self-righteous suicide." But it gave a hint of where
Tankian’s head is at as he prepares to release "Elect the Dead," his
debut solo album, due Oct. 23.
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Recorded in his rural home studio, with Tankian handling most of the
non-percussion instruments and engineer duties, "Elect the Dead" is
more tender and songwriterly than "Mezmerize" and "Hypnotize," the
two recent chart-topping System records. It’s still a brutally
engaging guitar-rock album, to be sure, but it seems to come from a
longing for small, more personal changes than System’s sonic assault
suggests.
"Civilization is already over," Tankian said. "What I felt with this
record is that micro leads to macro. The other day I was trying to
make a left turn on the freeway and a lady slowed to let me in, and
that’s the same thing as kindness between nations."
Likewise, "Elect the Dead" is full of tiny deviances from System’s
sound that add up to a distinctly different record. "Feed Us" is rife
with jazzy breakdowns and nervous catcalls, and "Lie Lie Lie" is a
daffy cabaret number with campy girlish shrieks. "Unthinking
Majority" and "Empty Walls" are more traditionally pummeling rockers.
But it seems Tankian isn’t burdened by the expectations placed on him
as a vanguard representative of modern heavy music and as an activist
for the Armenian diaspora.
Last year, Tankian lobbied Congress to pass an amendment recognizing
the Armenian genocide in Turkey. While the album does have oblique
references to "the East where you killed her," "Elect the Dead" isn’t
a policy paper, nor a way to distance himself from System. Because
even with its steely lyricism and throttling textures, "Elect the
Dead," as in his band’s best moments, is also really, really funny.
"Even politics can’t be completely serious," Tankian said. "We’re
silly creatures. If we could record the thoughts of animals, they’d
think we’re ridiculous."