AAPT2 fails to merge release resources with empty project created by Android Studio 4.1.2

[bombasticbob]

Environment
Provide version numbers for the following components (information can be retrieved by running tns info in your project folder or by inspecting the package.json of the project):

• CLI:
  Android Studio 4.1.2
  Build #AI-201.8743.12.41.7042882, built on December 19, 2020
  Runtime version: 1.8.0_242-release-1644-b3-6222593 amd64
  VM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM by JetBrains s.r.o
  Linux 4.19.0-12-amd64
  GC: ParNew, ConcurrentMarkSweep
  Memory: 733M
  Cores: 2
  Registry: ide.new.welcome.screen.force=true, external.system.auto.import.disabled=true
  Non-Bundled Plugins: org.jetbrains.kotlin
  Current Desktop: MATE
  uname output:
  Linux thrash 4.19.0-12-amd64 resolved issue #40 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.152-1 (2020-10-18) x86_64 GNU/Linux

• Cross-platform modules:

• Android Runtime:
  affects all runtimes (using 28)

• iOS Runtime (if applicable):

• Plugin(s):
  (default)

Describe the bug
AAPT2 fails to merge release results on an empty project created by Android Studio. Debug appears to work ok.

To Reproduce

1. create a new project using an empty Activity
2. Attempt to build a release version

Expected behavior
Should build properly, and allow me to sign the APK.

Sample project

Additional context

Running Devuan Linux (amd64)
(from dmesg)
Linux version 4.19.0-12-amd64 ([email protected]) (gcc version 8.3.0 (Debian 8.3.0-6)) #1 SMP Debian 4.19.152-1 (2020-10-18)
CPU0: AMD Athlon(tm) Dual Core Processor 4450e (family: 0xf, model: 0x6b, stepping: 0x2)
Memory: 3816144K/4061672K available (10252K kernel code, 1247K rwdata, 3312K rodata, 1596K init, 2264K bss, 245528K reserved, 0K cma-reserved)

Execution failed for task ':app:mergeReleaseResources'.

Multiple task action failures occurred:
A failure occurred while executing com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.Workers$ActionFacade
> AAPT2 aapt2-4.1.2-6503028-linux Daemon #0: Unexpected error during compile '/home/bobf/AndroidStudioProjects//app/src/main/res/mipmap-xxhdpi/ic_launcher_round.png', attempting to stop daemon.
This should not happen under normal circumstances, please file an issue if it does.
A failure occurred while executing com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.Workers$ActionFacade
> AAPT2 aapt2-4.1.2-6503028-linux Daemon #1: Unexpected error during compile '/home/bobf/AndroidStudioProjects//app/src/main/res/mipmap-xxxhdpi/ic_launcher_round.png', attempting to stop daemon.
This should not happen under normal circumstances, please file an issue if it does.
A failure occurred while executing com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.Workers$ActionFacade
> AAPT2 aapt2-4.1.2-6503028-linux Daemon #3: Unexpected error during compile '/home/bobf/AndroidStudioProjects//app/src/main/res/mipmap-xxhdpi/ic_launcher.png', attempting to stop daemon.
This should not happen under normal circumstances, please file an issue if it does.
A failure occurred while executing com.android.build.gradle.internal.tasks.Workers$ActionFacade
> AAPT2 aapt2-4.1.2-6503028-linux Daemon #2: Unexpected error during compile '/home/bobf/AndroidStudioProjects//app/src/main/res/mipmap-xxxhdpi/ic_launcher.png', attempting to stop daemon.
This should not happen under normal circumstances, please file an issue if it does.

I updated everything as of 3/16/2021. No changes in behavior. Was unable to import projects that were built successfully with earlier versions of Android Studio.

Seems similar to #1394, which has been closed.
All of the icons are defaults created along with the project. I merely created an empty project and attempted to build a release version of it. Normally you would expect this to work, but it's failing with the SAME errors I get when I attempt to build an existing project that built properly with an OLDER version of Android Studio.