“Rock has always been in my blood,” says New York-based musician and meditation practitioner ShiShi. “I grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Guns N’ Roses… but as a shy, introverted kid who moved countries every few years, I found my voice in solitude. Making beats on my laptop felt safe.”
Twenty years later, ShiShi has come full circle with Indigo – a nine-track rock album that fuses distorted guitars with tablas, power chords with Sanskrit mantras, and aggressive drums with harmonium meditations. “With Indigo, I wanted to take the intensity and rawness of rock and fuse it with everything I’ve learned from meditation, shadow work, and sound healing,” he explains. “People think of spiritual music and picture sound bowls or ambient drones – and that’s awesome too – but I love the idea of Trojan-horsing these messages about awakening into a genre that hits you in the chest. It’s loud, it’s urgent, but at its core, it’s about stillness.”
The album, released September 5th, marks a departure from his previous electronic releases Homecoming (2021) and Chrysalis (2022). For ShiShi – born Aasheesh Paliwal to Indian parents and raised across China, Switzerland, and the United States – this sonic shift doubles as something deeply personal. “It represents that teenager finally gaining the confidence to say, and sometimes scream, everything he wanted to but didn’t feel able to at the time,” he reflects. “For me, it’s healing and cathartic to know I can write music like this, perform it, hold a stage, and front a band – all things that once terrified me.”
This newfound confidence was on full display at National Sawdust in Brooklyn earlier this month, where ShiShi premiered Indigo with a full band featuring both electric guitars and tabla players. “It was really an experiment, and I’m so happy it went well. I didn’t know how it was going to go… having a harmonium and tabla player standing on stage with a full rock band with electric guitar and drums. But it was amazing.” The show featured a fusion of eclectic moments, including a traditional jugalbandi – a musical duet in Indian classical music – between Western drums and tabla. “The harmonium really filled out a lot of the songs and gave that spiritual sound to an otherwise very rock-oriented album.”
Perhaps the most radical element was the guided meditation woven into the setlist. “The experience is not just entertainment but transformation; people will get more out of it the more intention they bring,” ShiShi insists. “It’s about setting the intention for the show and helping people understand it’s not something they consume passively; it’s a co-creation.”
The spiritual thread runs deep through Indigo‘s DNA. Every track is tuned to 432 Hz, a frequency associated with healing and balance. Songs emerged from profound personal experiences: “Every song has been influenced by my meditation and spiritual practice. Specific songs like ‘Grandfather,’ ‘Krishna Theme,’ and ‘When It’s My Time’ are directly tied to spiritual experiences I’ve had… some with psychedelics, some with meditation.” “When It’s My Time” explores what ShiShi describes as “an ego-death experience that felt like a very real death, yet safe, warm, and loving. That paradox is reflected in the song: it’s about death, but in a major key; very happy.” Meanwhile, “Grandfather” emerged from working with plant medicine: “I was completely incapacitated and lying down, but had tremendous growth and saw my own divine self-respect.”
Even the album’s commentary on modern life carries spiritual weight. “Dopamine Machine” addresses digital addiction with a haunting refrain: “Would you like to wake up?”It’s an invitation,” ShiShi explains. “We’re all addicted to something: our phones, validation, social media. But there’s always that whisper inside. There’s more. Would you like to wake up to more? It’s about emerging from the digital fog into the real world; trees, water, wind, flowers.”
Credit: Adam Schneberg (@adamschneberg)
For ShiShi, who “never really had the luxury of one clear identity” growing up across continents, this multicultural perspective has become his superpower. “My whole life has been about not fitting neatly into one box: culturally, musically, or personally. That used to make me feel like I didn’t belong anywhere. Now I see it as my superpower.” With a mother who’s a classical Indian vocalist and experience bridging creative and corporate sides of the music industry, ShiShi navigates both traditional and commercial worlds. “At my core, I’m a purist artist and don’t think about business while creating. But I want to make the music accessible and mainstream, and one way is through a genre like rock that’s loved widely. I don’t promote it just as music but as part of a lifestyle, as a spiritual tool.”
As ShiShi prepares for a live album and expanded tour dates, his vision remains focused on transformation over entertainment. “Collectively, audiences seem ready for deeper experiences of connection. ‘Indigo’ is the culmination of that journey,” he concludes. “It’s not just an album for me… It’s a map, a reminder that you can turn all the places where you’ve felt lost into coordinates that lead you home.”
ShiShi’s ‘Indigo’ is out now. Follow him on Instagram, YouTube, and Spotify.
