Few artists craft songs that feel like sanctuary. But Shervin Boloorian has built an entire career doing just that. His latest single ‘One More Day’ is no exception. A stirring, folk-infused elegy inspired by the sudden loss of his mother, the song balances raw grief with bright, almost paradoxical melodies, echoing the duality of The Cure or early R.E.M., artists who knew how to wrap sorrow in light.
Teaming once again with Grammy-winning producer Kipper Eldridge (Sting, Gary Numan), Shervin channels heartbreak into something radiant: a song that aches with longing while offering solace to anyone who has ever whispered “what if” into the void. Featuring contributions from Carl Young (Michael Franti & Spearhead), “One More Day” is taken from his forthcoming EP ‘Unbroken’, and feels like both a personal reckoning and a communal hymn.
Born in Iran and now based in Bali, Shervin Boloorian is also a sound therapist, peace advocate, and spiritual storyteller whose work transcends genre and language. Whether performing in English, Persian, or crafting meditative soundscapes, his voice carries an unmistakable warmth and honesty that invites us into deep emotional terrain and safely back out again.
We caught up with Shervin to discuss the healing power of songwriting, and what it means to stand in the middle of grief and sing.
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Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got started in music?
I’ve always had a passion for singing and playing music although I had to reluctantly temper it early on. Being a musician is not typically welcomed in Asian-refugee families. I was a bit rudderless at school because I loved the arts but instead I got degrees in political science. Mostly I was inspired by social justice issues. Learning how Britain and America undermined Iran’s democratic government in 1953 shook me. It affected my morale and left me trying to understand why one part of my identity seemed pitted against the other. The tense split between my Iranian and Western selves was painful and confusing; it’s still hard to put into words.
I ended up working as a US-Iran peace coalition advisor in Washington DC, where I lived and worked until 2009. Music remained a hobby until then. When the stress of work started taking a toll on my health, I turned toward alternative therapies. That’s when I discovered a form of sound therapy that used the voice and acoustic instruments. It immediately clicked. The relaxation and Chinese Medicine based techniques as part of my training program helped me come back to myself. From there, I fell back in love with music from an unexpected angle. I left DC and started my career as a sound therapist and later a recording artist.
Who are your biggest musical influences and how have they shaped your sound?
I grew up listening to alternative Indie artists because they captured something about the underbelly of society that others at the time weren’t daring to look at: Depeche Mode, The Cure, the Smiths, Chameleons UK, are all big influences. I also loved other great talents who drew from diverse musical roots and world traditions: Peter Gabriel, Sting, Dead Can Dance. Then there are particular singers that just captivate me: Lisa Gerrard, Deva Premal, Enya, Billie Eilish and Davoud Azad to name a few. Ennio Moricone is probably one of my favorite composers. For a while I was listening just to spiritual music from different parts of the world–Gospel, ancient chant, Celtic, Native, Sufi, medicine songs etc. The only band that was massive for me was Depeche Mode, which is why I was thrilled to do the cover of Enjoy the Silence as the first single from my forthcoming album (Unbroken).
Was there a specific moment or experience that made you decide to pursue music seriously?
I had a completely non-musical career up until my 30s. Then all of a sudden I was the first person in Bali in my field of sound therapy to practice as a professional. Back when I started, I rarely used my voice but people would tell me of these strange and significant effects my voice and songs would have on them during the healing sessions. I thought they were just being nice but after enough encouragement, I took the plunge. I recorded my first album in 2015, which was mostly mantra or lines from spiritual texts which I put original music and melody to, and it all started to flow together after that. Each album thereafter reflected a different aspect of my life that wanted to be shared with the world. It’s wild to think that I could still be stuck doing my office job right now. It took me many years to trust in my own abilities and find my way back to my calling.
I know there are countless others like me, carrying healing stories from unspoken pain and its evolution. One of the reasons I share my new music is to remind listeners that uncomfortable stories are not something to fear. They are real and valid. They bring us closer together and can ignite something powerful and deeply creative. I also direct my sound therapy training to encouraging my students to not let their talents languish or let the music inside them die.
Can you walk us through your typical songwriting process?
It’s always different. I have several approaches but one of the most prevalent is that I hear a hook in my head that annoyingly won’t go away until I pick up my guitar and start playing around with it and then a song builds itself up from there. I have this method called the Soul Melody, which I developed as part of my training. It’s where you can identify a consistent motif or series of musical notes that seem to be floating in the consciousness randomly (except I don’t think they are random). Each person has their own unique sequences that show up to them that are like authentic musical signatures. Then I play around with ways to better access them and improvise with them. I don’t believe music shows up or seeps into the consciousness by accident.
How do you find inspiration for your music and lyrics?
Anything to do with the human spirit’s ability to shine a light in the dark. Things are so fragmented in the world right now, so I am most inspired by stories about hope, overcoming the odds or coming out of isolation. Redemption, forgiveness and resilience against a backdrop of loss are big ones. And then there is also the wonder of the natural world, which never ceases to inspire me. The reason I love these inspirations so much is because they speak to many aspects of my own story and history.
What themes or messages do you hope listeners take away from your music?
A sense of the humanity and common ground we all share; especially with people like me whose stories are rarely heard. You might disagree with me politically or come from a completely different background, but quietened or unfamiliar voices are valid and essential. At its core, “Unbroken” says: you don’t have to feel threatened by what you don’t understand. Try to listen before judging. Yes I am born in Iran- a refugee/immigrant/asylum seeker but I am exactly the same as you and I’m absolutely interfaceable with North, South, East or West-even though I don’t fully belong to either one. I was gifted these multiple layers of identity that some might think of as confused or contradictory. I am a classic hybrid that just doesnt fit into most boxes. Acceptance is something me and millions like me have had to struggle with because hybrid identity is where the human race is going. Even in the 21st century, we are desperately trying to cling to a homogenous fantasy that doesnt exist anymore. The world is multi-colored, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural–identities overlap and intersect in growing ways and yet society and leadership often remain fixated on a single race, religion, nationality, or belief system as the marker of legitimacy.
I was born in a Muslim country raised in the Protestant UK. I have lived in three continents. My background ethnically is indigenous (Kurdish). No single flag or national boundary can begin to express the fullness of who I am. I can celebrate these parts of myself now, but it took years for me to arrive at this point. I know that others with layered identities like mine haven’t been as fortunate in finding their way, or in staying grounded and sane along their journeys.
What challenges have you faced as an emerging artist in the music industry?
Mostly it’s marketing, and getting my music and message out to the world–coming out of my shyness to be more publicly visible and “playing the game” is an ongoing challenge.I know I have something unique and relevant to share with the world but ultimately it is about overcoming my own lingering fears of rejection by putting myself out there, which goes back to your prior question.
What has been the most rewarding aspect of your musical journey so far?
I think it’s how I started to sing more heart and how my music changed because of the influence of my twin sons, Kian and Aiden. I would sing them to sleep every night when they were babies and most of the melodies that came to me in those tender father-son moments developed into songs for my first album “Spirit Night by Candlelight.” Singing to calm them and prepare them for the dreamworld completely transformed my voice into what it is now. My style of singing tends to touch and open hearts and I believe that is because it comes from something much more true to my core. I am forever grateful to my sons for that gift.
How do you stay true to yourself and your artistry in a constantly evolving industry?
I think I am lucky in that I got into the industry later in life, so I have a very clear idea of my personal musical stamp and sense of self as an artist. I had been producing music primarily for holistic-minded audiences before 2024 but this new project is breaking new ground for me as an artist. One of the reasons I recruited Kipper Eldridge– a great pop producer and winner of Emmys and Grammys with Sting- is that I wanted to intentionally make my original songs more accessible to wider audiences without losing their depth. Kipper constantly served as a balancing force and a creative mentor in that regard, which is why we could release a song like my new single “One More Day.” It has all these pop-friendly features coupled with a deeply spiritual theme of living with loss and facing mortality and time. He also made sure that the vulnerable power of my unique singing voice was the main focus of each song.
What can fans expect from you in the near future? Any upcoming projects or tours?
I have my new album, “Unbroken” which will be about 12 tracks. This is the project I am most excited about. I am finishing up the last tracks for that now. Hopefully that will be released no later than Feb, 2026. I’m working with Ric Peet (Candy Flip, International People’s Gang) on some of the tracks. Ric produced my global peace song winning album, “I Hear You, Mother Earth.” I can’t wait to share Unbroken with the public. Each song has its own identity, its own musical and emotional evolutions, and its own iteration of my overall healing journey. I’ll be in Europe in the Spring touring to promote the album and hopefully other parts of the world.
Where do you see yourself and your music career in the next five years?
I will have put out a couple of more albums, be regularly sharing live events, touring with great musicians to share great songs combined with healing ethnic instruments from throughout the world. I see myself joining forces with other artists to promote music’s healing properties through collaborations… I dream of one such collaboration being a duet of my version of “Enjoy the Silence” with Martin L. Gore or Dave Gahan. Now wouldn’t that be FAB?!
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Listen to Shervin Boloorian’s new single ‘One More Day’ below.
