Today, preeminent whistler Molly Lewis has announced her sophomore EP, Mirage, out digitally September 16 via Jagjaguwar. The project follows Lewis’ 2021 debut EP, The Forgotten Edge, which earned widespread critical acclaim including profiles with New York Times, and NPR .
Hypnotic and ethereal, Lewis’s moonlit compositions seem to float into our ears from distant shores. Like mirages, her pieces scintillate and disperse; like siren songs, they draw us in over uncharted waters. There’s no one else quite like Lewis in music today, and that’s not only because she plays a wind instrument that few others do—her lips.
To celebrate Mirage’s announcement, Lewis has released the bewitching new single ‘Miracle Fruit.’
Of the song, Lewis says, “I’ve always been enamoured and intrigued by miracle fruit because it contains a substance called “miraculin” which changes your taste buds to make everything you eat after it tastes sweet. After an encounter with miracle fruit, even a bite into a lemon tastes like a delight. It feels like magic and lasts for about an hour. It’s also a very tragic tale because the sugar industry has suppressed the usage and abundance of miracle fruit because why would we all be addicted to sugar if we could get our hands readily on this miraculous natural sweetener? Anyway – this song felt like natural sweetness to me, with a hint of the sadness and longing that comes with not being able to get enough.”
On Mirage LA-based, Australia-bred Lewis teams up again with producer Tom Brenneck (Charles Bradley, Amy Winehouse) and brings Brazilian guitar virtuoso Rogê (Seu Jorge) into the fold. The six capacious and atmospheric songs center Lewis’ unmistakable, cinematic whistle–akin to a mixture of a theremin and the voice of the great Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac—and reach beyond Lewis’s signature Spaghetti Western-meets-neo-lounge pastiche. Brenneck’s soul and Rogê’s pure Brazilian style contribute to form Lewis’s most concentrated effort to date, both sonically and conceptually. Like Eden’s Island (1970) by eden ahbez—whose “Nature Boy” is covered in one of Mirage’s standout moments—Lewis’s EP is based on her visions of an imaginary island floating somewhere between the shores of LA, Brazil, and Australia.
Since 2015, when Lewis won the Masters of Musical Whistling, she has become an in-demand collaborator, shoulder-tapped by La Femme, Sébastien Tellier, Dr. Dre, and more. She’s performed around the globe, at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai, for an opening night ceremony at the Cannes Film Festival, alongside cumbia outfit Sonido Gallo Negro at Mexico City’s historic Salón Los Angeles, and on tour across the entirety of New Zealand with Neil Finn of Crowded House. In Lewis’ homebase of LA, her own Café Molly has become a celebrated event that showcases her diverse inspirations, and features appearances from friends and fans including John C. Reilly, Karen O and Mac DeMarco.
Mirage is out September 16 digitally and via vinyl and CD on October 28.
Pre-order is available here: https://mollylewis.ffm.to/
Mirage Tracklisting:
1. Mirage
2. Miracle Fruit
3. Dolphinese
4. Cabana de Mel
5. The Green Ray
6. Nature Boy
Molly Lewis Online:
