True North: On a Prayer with a Broken Wing
On a Prayer with a Broken Wing – True North’s Triumphant Leap Into the Light
by Jack Rush
With “On a Prayer with a Broken Wing,” Tones Thorburn’s True North project takes a radiant, skyward turn—one that feels not just like a follow-up to May’s atmospheric debut “No Exit Wound,” but a full-spirited declaration of purpose. Where the first single lingered in shadow, this one bursts into daylight, carried by brass, groove, and a contagious sense of uplift.
Thorburn’s songwriting has always been marked by emotional honesty, but here that honesty shines rather than broods. The title’s built-in contradiction—vulnerability paired with forward motion—sets the tone for a track that acknowledges damage without being defined by it. His vocal performance is steeped in lived experience, never theatrical, delivering lines about shedding “damaged skin” and breaking through “like sunshine on a cloudy day” with a grounded sincerity.
The horn section, performed by Greg Johnson (trumpet) and Lewis McCallum (saxophone), is the single’s beating heart. Rather than adding ornamentation, their parts act as emotional exclamation points—dialoguing with the lead vocal, expanding the track’s sense of scale, and injecting an almost gospel warmth. These moments are expertly framed by producer Ben King, whose ability to balance depth and immediacy (shaped through his work with Goldenhorse and Grand Rapids) ensures that every layer serves the song’s message, never overshadowing it.
True North’s ensemble of musicians brings pedigree without ego. Milan Borich’s drumming gives the song its muscular backbone, Matthias Jordan’s piano and organ fill the spaces with understated elegance, and Sandy Mill’s vocals—alongside Borich and King on gang vocals—create a communal energy that feels like a crowd lifting each other up. It’s music built for shared catharsis, not solitary angst.
The accompanying music video, released the same day as the single, stands in deliberate contrast to the darker, self-directed clip for “No Exit Wound.” Where that video played with chiaroscuro and internal struggle, this one celebrates release, movement, and collective joy. It's a visual embodiment of True North’s expanding emotional palette: from introspective to exuberant, from tension to triumph.
Mastered at Portland’s Waygate Studios, the track avoids the loudness trap, preserving dynamics and allowing each listen to reveal something new. A horn flourish here, a layered harmony there—the song breathes, and in doing so, invites the listener to do the same.
As a statement ahead of True North’s forthcoming EP or album, “On a Prayer with a Broken Wing” positions the project as one of New Zealand’s most exciting new voices in rock-soul. The single succeeds not by choosing optimism over truth, but by fusing them—offering a grown-up anthem for anyone who’s tried to rise while still carrying the weight of old wounds.
With grit, grace, and an unshakeable sense of heart, True North show that even on a broken wing, flight is not only possible—it’s gloriously freeing.
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