Whether she is reciting a Sufi poem from the 13th century, belting out Persian lyrics, playing electric guitar or doing all three at once, Iranian American musician Haale immerses herself in each performance the way a whale immerses itself in the sea.

Shifting between English and Persian, she reaches out toward the audience and lets her body sway as if stroked by currents of sound. Between songs, she converses with the crowd, sharing her inspiration for a particular tune or describing the mystic poets or Iran. The audience at the Stone Church was slim on Wednesday, April 11, but those who made it to her show were rewarded with an intimate evening of unique and intriguing music.

Haale was born in New York and grew up mostly in New Jersey, listening to American rock and speaking primarily in English. But her Iranian parents retained much of their native culture and filled the household with Persian art.

“It was definitely swirling in the house and I picked it up in the airwaves,” she said in an interview following her performance at the Church.

Haale still feels a mystical connection to the language, music and art of the Middle East, and these influences manifest themselves in her music. When she began writing songs and playing guitar, she wrote most of her lyrics in English. But the inclination to embrace her artistic roots soon emerged with the force of a revelation.

“At a certain point it just kind of hit me that I had this amazing heritage that I could tap into,” she said. “I always knew I’d sing in Persian, but I always thought it would happen much, much later in life. But something hit me like lightening, so sudden and so complete, and it was just like, ‘It’s time now.’”

Haale dove headlong into Persian artistry, reading Sufi poets of the 13th and 14th centuries, like Rumi and Hafiz, and singing in her parents’ native tongue. She temporarily abandoned her American influences, but later attempted to strike a balance between the two cultures.

“I started just doing shows in Persian, and then it was a process of finding the place where they meet, and where within one song I can move between languages,” she said.

The continual exchange of languages seemed natural and fluid at the Stone Church, where listeners easily translated the spirit, if not the content, of Haale’s soaring vocals.

Wearing blue jeans tucked into brown cowboy boots, a Bohemian shirt and a purple scarf, Haale sent the audience gliding over Persian landscapes of sound embellished by the delicate and stirring guitar work of John Shannon. Percussionist Matt Kilmer layered new dimensions on each song, rapping polyrhythms on a plethora of hand drums.

The trio has only been playing together for about three months, but in that time they have toured both coasts and played dates in New Orleans and Austin. Shortly after the Stone Church show—which ended rather abruptly before 11 p.m.—the group packed up and hit the road on their way to Albany, N.Y.

Amid the busy touring, Haale has managed to release two EPs, “Parrot Trooper” and “Morning.” The recordings, like the live shows, reflect her blend of cultural backgrounds. She said she is influenced as much by American poets like Allen Ginsberg and William Blake, as well as jazz musicians like Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus, as she is by the poets and bards of Iran.

Haale bridges the dichotomy of cultures to create a distinctive sound that at times seems straight off a Putayamo compilation and at others sounds more like the latest Fiona Apple release, inspiring an appreciation of traditional and modern world music.