Thunder Boys – “Sorry Jars & Shooting Stars” [Song Review]

Thunder Boys, Tyson Vogel’s psych-rock project, formerly of Two Gallants, recently unveiled their single/music video, “Sorry Jars & Shooting Stars,” a track from the band’s forthcoming album, Leak in the Dreamworld.

The first part of the title – “Sorry Jars” – was taken from the Thunder Boys’ practice of dropping a coin into a jar every time someone says “sorry.” Vogel says, “The song is about letting go of the weight of self-blame, pain, and guilt.”

The album grew out of the pandemic when Vogel and the rest of the band, Brandon Chester, Aaron Diko, and Justin Flowers, found themselves struggling not only with the outside world but personally. During the pandemic, Vogel was tormented by shingles and the conclusion of a partnership.

While the world around them seethed in chaos, Thunder Boys recorded Leak in the Dreamworld in Vogel’s parents’ house in Sonoma, California. The place allowed them to attain a sense of control, at least with each other.

Introduced by a raw, loose drum shuffle that flows into undulant layers of surf rock guitars suffused with lysergic textures, “Sorry Jars & Shooting Stars” presents a cosmic soundscape. Dreamy vocals imbue the lyrics with hallucinogenic savors, like variables piled on variables.

A gliding bridge precedes the guitar section, which features a dirty, wailing guitar enveloped in psychedelic echoes that express trippy imminence. The closing shot of the video is wonderfully significant, depicting a bearded man wearing a blue dress, holding a chihuahua in one arm and a large purse in the other hand.

Thunder Boys, photo by Charlie Villyard

Akin to an epiphany, “Sorry Jars & Shooting Stars” examines the transformation of the world from conventional to surreal and enigmatic.

Run Time: 4:33
Release Date: April 5, 2024
Record Label: Orphan Records