Single Review: Single Review: Pit Pony – Thunder

Photo by Nigel John

Newcastle band Pit Pony have created a powerful sound with Thunder. 

Thunder is a song about dealing with adversity, told through the backdrop of a childhood memory about awe and mythology. As a result, Pit Pony have utilised these two contrasts to create a sound which is both roaring and fabled.  

When frontwoman Jackie Purver was a child, her best friend Annabel told her she’d seen Thor in the storm clouds. Annabel told her father, and he said he believed her. This made Jackie wonder if Annabel had seen Thor. And it’s something that’s stayed with her since. On the song she said, ‘Thunder is about that stormy side of life – not always getting to where you hoped to, and trying to make sense of the things you can’t change.’

Punchy drums and driving guitar strings set the piece up. And they don’t let off until the track is finished. When listening to it, I can visualise Thor playing a red Fender in Valhalla. Lightning bolts crashing.          

What also drives Thunder so well is Jackie Purver’s voice, which is both lyrically and audibly set on a celestial platter. The rain-needled drumming and the track’s rough riffs intertwine brilliantly with Jackie’s vocals, creating a powerful blend of sound and lyric. The themes of childhood memory and myth, and being caught in the sway of providence and omnipotence, turn the track into a supersonic roar. 

Thunder is out now.