“Enjoy the Silence (All I Ever Wanted)”
Fans of Depeche Mode will probably never expect to hear these 1990 Electronic Synth-pop beats and rhythmic hooks reimagined with a fresh new chorus, melody and soulful singing, adding strings, piano and a Gospel-inspired organ. This new sound alters the original time signature and the emotional feeling with a breathy vibrato fearlessly bringing life and ghostly emotional intensity into the listening experience.
Sound healing teacher-trainer Shervin Boloorian delivers raw emotion as well as subtle nuances while still embracing the song’s original difficult subjects such as mortality, the dark side of society, faith, sex and inner chaos. Weaving together Western influences and his Iranian refugee story into a deeply moving expression of love, loss, and self-acceptance, as well as transcending cultural divides and personal boundaries. The multi-instrumental musician, and world class vocalist sometimes alternates between euphoria and inner stillness, bringing Western classical feelings together with subtle Middle Eastern and New Age musical flavors to convey the experience of sound medicine.
The original version of “Enjoy the Silence” by Martin L. Gore drew Shervin in with the poetic power of the song’s lyrics – troubled, wounded and often uncomfortable, exploring the daily complexities of alienation and life as an outsider. With viola and string arrangements by Sakari Hiekka and producer Kipper Eldridge’s piano, organ, instrumentation and grooves, this new approach to such a timeless song provides a brilliant place for Shervin’s vocals, revisions and arrangement, evolving his signature vocal style, and inducing a sense of deep peace and leaving listeners with a lasting sense of tranquility.
“Working with Kipper (Eldridge) completely enhanced my creative abilities,” Shervin says, “his musicianship as a featured artist and his insights as a creative consultant (as well as producer) on several tracks, elevated my artistry.”
Born in Iran and raised in the UK, and currently based in Bali, Indonesia, Shervin is an artist who is not only pushing the boundaries of his own capabilities but also redefining the sound of healing music with a fresh and contemporary edge. His vocals carry a timeless and boundaryless quality with messages of hope and resilience. His third studio album, I Hear You, Mother Earth, released in 2020, won three Global Peace Song Awards. His first book, “The Three Zones of Sound” was published in 2022, and he has collaborated musically with Sufi initiates, Bali spiritual leaders, a Tibetan Lama and Native American wisdom keepers. His events invite authentic cultural understanding and appreciation as well as a rich live music experience.
Sound Healing aims to provide physical and mental benefits involving a deep commitment to music and the desire to use it as a medium to help others. This new single, “Enjoy the Silence (All I Ever Wanted Version)” is a bold departure from Shervin’s previous catalog of medicine songs and ancient Persian Sufi music, reaching even further back to his darkest and most troubling experiences as a young refugee, being uprooted, never to return to the house he grew up in again.
A sound healing practitioner trained in Urban Shamanism, Shervin designed and created the ‘Three Zones System’ that he applies and teaches to future sound workers more about the power of music as a tool for healing, activism, and personal expression. He employs a non-digital sound therapy, incorporating world music, authentic medicine songs, and Sufi chants in Persian and Arabic, among other styles. The connection between music and therapy is not new, Shervin is a graduate of the renowned Tama-Do Academy of Sound, Color and Movement and he opened Bali’s first Sound Healing Program at the famous Yoga Barn holistic campus in 2012.
His ancient and globally inspired healing music draws listeners into the depths and heights of his personal journey, “I create music that brings listeners home to natural and peaceful sensations. No matter what you’re going through, music can be there as a guide and a friend. It helped me with making sense of my darkest struggles. What I present to the world in turn says “you don’t have to feel alone in facing your hardship.”
This new version of a Depeche Mode classic succeeds in completing the circle from 1990 Electronic Synth-pop across the nostalgic universe and into the natural healing sounds that work so well today. The strings transform the mood from the original charged-up quirky electronic introspection and now reimagines the feelings and words into a new soulful transcendent bliss, both delicate and nostalgic. In this one track, fans of soothing atmospheric emotional depth can connect with the places that sheltered popular “new romantic” ears on the dark industrial dance floors of the recent past to find some contemporary new healing insights and revelations.
Up next for Shervin? UNBROKEN, an album of covers that inspired him to thrive and grow, due out in early 2025.
