Foundations

As a singer, poet, songwriter, visual artist, film producer, activist and composer, Serj Tankian, lead vocalist and lyricist for the Grammy Award-winning rock band System of a Down, is always creating, always looking ahead. In 2024, this has brought him to a place where he is also excavating his past and embracing and re-evaluating it in the present. His recent memoir, the New York Times bestseller Down with the System, saw him dive deep into the principles, passions and philosophies that have fueled his life in and out of music. Similarly, his new EP, Foundations, mines music and lyrics from previous decades and reframes them in a hard-hitting, intensely focused collection. It is, Tankian says, “A retrospective of songs from different eras of my life, meant to complement the memoir.” Like all of Tankian’s work, the five tracks that comprise Foundations encompass a wide range of sounds and styles. It is music that traverses multiple eras and vast swaths of emotions. It is also very much a rock album – “music of rebellion,” as Tankian puts it. A true creative tour de force, Tankian recorded Foundations primarily at his own Serjical Strike Studios in L.A. He wrote, performed, orchestrated and produced all the material, as well as contributed the artwork – an original piece titled “Sunburst” – that adorns the album cover. Additional instrumentation on the record was provided by Dan Monti (guitars, bass and drum programming) and, on “Cartoon Buyer,” by bassist Mario Pagliarulo and SOAD drummer John Dolmayan.