Joining us for this Indie Rock Hit Parade session is an artists who brings a rare serenity to our ongoing series of in-studio performances. Molly Lewis‘s concert-caliber whistling has rocketed the Los Angeles composer into the spotlight, landing a breakout spot on the Barbie soundtrack and accolades from Billie Eilish. Local listeners may have witnessed Lewis’s astounding talent when she opened for Beck at the Mann Center last summer. Just over a year ago, Lewis released her full-length debut, On the Lips; which couples her lilting melodies with rich production by Daptone affiliate Thomas Brenneck. While on an intimate acoustic tour earlier this year, Lewis and guitarist Thomas Stankiewicz visited our studio to perform a stripped-down set.
The session begins with an early favorite, “Oceanic Feeling,” which appears on Lewis’s debut EP, The Forgotten Edge. Next is On the Lips highlight “Crushed Velvet” which, on the album, is a collaboration with the rhythm section of San Diego revivalists Thee Sacred Souls. Lewis and Stankiewicz premiere a new composition, “Clover,” and close the set with a show-stopping rendition of Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns’s “The Swan.” The penultimate movement from the French composer’s The Carnival of the Animals was notably recorded by Lithuanian theremin virtuoso Clara Rockmore in 1977, and it’s this version that serves as direct inspiration for Lewis.
Watch and listen to Molly Lewis’s Indie Rock Hit Parade session below, and check out Lewis’s spring/summer tour itinerary that includes dates with Beck, Lord Huron, and Loren Kramar.
