Who still purses their lips today? Even the construction workers have given up. Molly Lewis, on the other hand, makes whistling a real art again
The idea of making whistling sounds with your mouth is as old as humanity. Even the Neanderthals valued a sharp trill as a warning of hungry bears or storming mammoths. During the Renaissance, when most musical instruments were still bug-prone beta versions, Kunstpfeifer entertained audiences with turned melodies. A few centuries later, the Comedian Harmonists teasingly asked Kcan you whistle, Johanna? – and twittered like a nest of tipsy blackbirds. The actress Ilse Werner even built a lifelong career on her smart talent. And then came the turning point: “Back then, I annoyed my neighbors with my repetitive whistling,” says singer Klaus Meine, recalling the origins of the Scorpio hit Wind of Change.
Hardly anyone whistles today. Neither in the forest nor in pop music. Even the construction workers have given up. The cheeky little sister of Singing to herself has fallen asleep. Surrounded by a hedge of thorns made of Bluetooth boxes, earpods and the constant availability of Spotify. Until you see the video on Youtube Oceanic Feeling discovered. The young Australian Molly Lewis prances disguised as a princess through a fairy tale forest of plastic flowers and flowing artificial mist. But the most important thing: She doesn’t sing a note, she whistles the entire piece. A beguiling kitsch dream that intensifies when actor John C. Reilly (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Lobster) appears as the saxophone playing king.
But Molly Lewis means business. The daughter of a musician and a documentary filmmaker discovered her passion for whistling through Pucker Up, a documentary about the “International Whistling Competition” in Louisburg. Once a year the best pipers meet there: inside the world, many of them from Japan. In 2012, Molly also traveled to North Carolina with her father to take part in the competition. The Australian made it to the final and received the award for “the participant with the longest journey”. A kind of consolation prize, of course, but also a confirmation.
Hawaii vacation to hear
Lewis’ debut EP The Forgotten Edge now is a musical parallel world, full of reminiscences of the Exotica by Martin Denny and Les Baxter. In the late 1950s, instrumental albums were like Forbidden Island or Quiet Village a kind of Hawaiian vacation to listen to: exotic, dreamy soft jazz that tried to transform suburban living rooms into tiki bars with marimbas and sandpiper melodies. Molly Lewis adds a good dose of Hollywood Noir, whistles on Twilight Boulevard until she does one Balcony for Two has found. The flawless retro sound of the EP is thanks to Thomas Brenneck. The producer and multi-instrumentalist from New York played guitar for Amy Winehouse and was the founder of the Menahan Streetband. Brenneck has been working in Los Angeles since 2017 – where Molly Lewis now leads the life of an It girl after studying film studies. She even sat on the deathbed of actor Harry Dean Stanton and whistled the deeply sad for him Danny Boy.
In their irregularly held club “Café Molly”, Lewis leads through an eclectic program in an elegant white trouser suit and celebrates the nostalgic glamor here too. The band plays seated and with a standing bass, a sea of candles sparkles in front of the stage. On molly-lewis.com there is a nice video in which John C. Reilly – also in a white suit and a huge cowboy hat – Slim Whitman’s cowboy ballad Twilla lee intoned, supported by a wistful plaintive French horn and the ethereal whistling of the hostess. The highlight of such evenings is often a song by Alessandro Alessandroni – the legendary whistler of the spaghetti western soundtracks by Ennio Morricone. In films like Once Upon a Time in the West Whistling is clearly a man’s business. Stubby-bearded killers piss their lips first – and then mercilessly pull the trigger. An old German proverb says: “Girls who whistle and chickens that crow should turn their necks in good time”. A threat to all women and the reason why whistling has long been a symbol of rebellion against male dominance in the history of feminism.
When there is a whistle in pop, nobody has to fear anything – although here too it is mostly men who set the tone. Many singers try to sound authentic and vulnerable – and often end up feeling sorry for themselves. Like Bryan Ferry with his (still great) version of the John Lennon classic Jealous Guy. It is much livelier and more vital Wishing Girl by the Israeli duo Lola Marsh.
Molly Lewis whistling is different – more artificial and virtuoso. But even she will probably not bring this lost art form back into everyday life. The forgotten whistling is a luxury that has no place in today’s world. The songs by Forgotten Edge show what is lost in the process.
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The Forgotten Edge Molly Lewis Jagjaguwar / Cargo 2021
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