New York-based musician ShiShi has arrived at an unexpected destination with his latest album, Indigo. Released independently in early September, the project sees the multifaceted artist trading laptop beats for live guitars, yet somehow making tabla players and Sanskrit mantras feel perfectly at home alongside power chords and distortion.
Born Aasheesh Paliwal and raised across China, Switzerland, and the United States, ShiShi has never fit neatly into any box, culturally or musically. That outsider perspective, once a source of isolation, has become his greatest creative asset. With Indigo, he’s turned twenty years of not belonging into a blueprint for finding home.
We caught up with ShiShi to discuss his evolution from solitary beatmaker to band frontman, the spiritual philosophy behind the album, and why he’s chosen to Trojan-horse enlightenment into three-chord progressions.
You describe rock as being “in your blood” despite spending two decades in electronic production. What specific moment or realization made you decide it was time to return to rock with Indigo, and how did you approach blending guitars with tablas, distorted riffs with hypnotic mantras?
It wasn’t one moment; more a gradual realization. Rock has always been my first love. I went into electronic production not because I loved it more, but because it let me make everything myself. I didn’t really have friends who played music, so producing on my own became this solitary way of expressing myself. But part of me craved playing with people, hearing other minds in the music. That’s what I always loved about rock… The collaboration. Bands like Led Zeppelin sounded like more than just four people; it was the chemistry that made them great. Making a rock album and playing it live with a band feels like homecoming. And blending Indian instruments with rock… that’s just me as a creative, putting together things I haven’t heard before.
Every track on Indigo is tuned to 432 Hz. What differences did you notice in the recording and mixing process compared to standard tuning, and how did this choice affect your arrangements?
There isn’t a huge difference unless you have a very trained ear. Standard tuning is 440 Hz; with 432, everything is just slightly flat. To most people, you won’t hear a major difference. It was really about a conscious choice: 432 Hz is said to be more healing, resonating with the body at a cellular level. Setting the whole record there gave it a warmer, more cohesive feel.
From “Aham Brahmasmi’s” harmonium-led sunrise meditation to “Dopamine Machine’s” digital addiction commentary, the album covers vast emotional territory. How did you sequence these tracks to create a cohesive journey from disconnection to expansive awareness?
I reflected on my own life. Growing up, chasing achievements, getting some success but feeling unsatisfied by that treadmill of always wanting more… it eventually led me to spirituality, to what doesn’t change. So the sequencing mirrors that. It’s a hero’s journey. “Aham Brahmasmi” is the womb, the origin. “Loser” is the angst and doubt of adolescence. “Dopamine Machine” is entering adulthood and distraction. From there it moves through awakenings and connection with the divine. The whole track order is autobiographical.
You’ve mentioned Trojan-horsing spiritual messages into rock music. How do you balance maintaining rock’s raw intensity while embedding deeper layers of meaning without losing either element?
I don’t see intensity as hiding the message—it amplifies it. Rock’s rawness creates urgency. The lyrics carry most of the weight, but I also use instruments like the bansuri (Indian bamboo flute) or harmonium to invoke that spiritual feeling. At the heart of it, these songs are love songs to the Divine, just dressed up in rock to be more accessible.
“KALI” explores fierce feminine force while “Krishna’s Theme” offers divine reassurance. How do these Hindu philosophical concepts translate into your rock arrangements and songwriting?
With “Kali,” I made musical choices that illustrated that energy. It’s swaying, dancey, but also in a minor key; dark, destructive, chaotic. That reflects Kali as both fierce and protective. “Krishna’s Theme” is in a major key, and is much more open with space for the vocals. It feels reassuring, like Krishna coming with a smile and saying, “I’ve got it from here.”
Your previous albums Homecoming and Chrysalis were firmly in the electronica realm. What production techniques from your electronic work carried over into this rock album, and what had to be completely reimagined?
Homecoming was instrumental, electronic and all about intentional tuning. That concept carried into Indigo. Chrysaliswas the bridge album. It was my first time singing and playing guitar. Indigo is much more fleshed out; my voice is stronger now. Production-wise, I still arrange and build tracks like an electronic producer, even on the rock songs. That’s why Indigo still sounds big, polished and layered. But unlike electronic music, I had to let the human element in—imperfection, bleed, mistakes. That was the reimagined part.
The single “Loser” is described as a “blistering outsider’s anthem.” How does this track reflect your own experience of never fitting “neatly into one box” culturally and musically?
“Loser” is personal. I’ve never fit neatly into one category; I’m not fully Indian, not fully Western, not EDM, not rock. Outsider energy has been my truth. The song channels that refusal to fit. It’s angsty but defiant. It’s pure garage-band energy with a grown perspective behind it.
You’ve said Indigo is “not just an album… it’s a map.” Looking at your journey from “Aarti” in 2017 to Indigo in 2025, what coordinates does this map provide for listeners, and how has your approach to being a cultural bridge-builder through music evolved?
For me, being an artist is about making something new, combining elements people don’t expect and keeping myself and listeners surprised. I gave up long ago on having one “sound.” What ties it all together is the commitment to evolve. The albums are coordinates on that map, “Aarti” was an offering, Homecoming about healing, Chrysalis a transformation, Indigo an arrival point. The “map” is both inward (into the self), and outward (across cultures). Being a bridge-builder is part of it, but at its core it’s about making music authentic to my changing journey.
