“I See Blue” Is Out — And Jacob Says It’s the One That Makes Us Famous
Jacob’s sister heard it and said it immediately.
Not “this is good” or “I like this one.” She said: this is the one that makes you famous.
She’s heard everything. The early Vega Maestro records. The K, Ok, O.K., OKAY! sessions. The demos that went nowhere. The versions of songs that got rebuilt from scratch after months of work. She is not a person who says things to be kind.
So when she said that about “I See Blue” — the new single out today from our upcoming album Simping for Big Toilet — we paid attention.
Here’s what you need to know.
What Is “I See Blue” — and Why Does It Sound Different From What We’ve Done Before?
“I See Blue” is a bittersweet Americana love story — melody-first, radio-friendly, and built around the kind of emotional specificity that makes a song feel like it belongs to you the first time you hear it.
We have spent years making music that earns the word honest before it earns the word catchy. That’s a choice that comes from our influences — Wilco, My Morning Jacket, Bowie, Kate Bush — and from Jacob’s background in literary poetry and classical piano, and from a general conviction that a song should work on you before it works for you.
“I See Blue” does both.
V13 premiered it today and called it pleasant, charming, and very radio-friendly. Aaron Willschick wrote that you can feel the 90s alternative pop energy in it — that it lifts you up and can’t help but make you feel good. And crucially: that it doesn’t belong to any specific musical generation. It sounds like it could have existed at several points in the last forty years of guitar-driven music.
That’s exactly what we were going for.
Jacob describes it directly as a paragon of what The Wonder Licks do — melody, pathos, narrative, harmonies, and razor-sharp musicianship all arriving in the same song. By far the catchiest thing on Simping for Big Toilet. The song that takes everything we know how to do and applies it to something that sounds effortless, which — if you’ve ever tried to write one — is the hardest kind of song to make.
But underneath the lightness is something real. Static Multimedia called it a bittersweet Americana love story. That’s closer to the bone. We are a band that doesn’t write happy songs just because they’re easier to sell. If “I See Blue” sounds like it lifts you up, it’s because it earned that lift — not because we cleared everything difficult out of the way.
Who Is Playing on This Record — and Who Made It With Us?
The core of The Wonder Licks is Jacob Wunderlich on vocals and guitar, Tyler Reina on drums, and Sammy Westervelt on bass. Simping for Big Toilet was produced by John Jackson — whose credits include The Kinks, The Jayhawks, Caleb Caudle, and Trapper Schoepp.
Jacob grew up on classical piano lessons and classic radio. At 18 he moved to Nashville on his own — motivated, as V13 put it, perhaps by delusions of grandeur — and taught himself guitar and found a voice shaped by My Morning Jacket, Bowie, Wilco, and Kate Bush. He met Tyler at Belmont University through a housing lottery that turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to this band. They made two records together under the name Vega Maestro — Hello Voyeur in 2020 and God Mic in 2023 — before The Wonder Licks took full shape.
Outside the core trio we work with a rotating group of instrumentalists and contributors. The songs tell us what they need. We find the people who can give it to them.
John Jackson understood immediately what we were trying to do with this record. That’s a rare thing. Producers who get the feeling before they start adjusting the frequencies don’t come along often. His track record — The Kinks, The Jayhawks, Caleb Caudle, Trapper Schoepp — tells you what kind of music he knows how to serve. Simping for Big Toilet is the record we’ve been building toward since the first Wonder Licks show. He helped us find it.
What Is “Simping for Big Toilet” — and When Does It Arrive?
Simping for Big Toilet is our first full-length since K, Ok, O.K., OKAY! and it’s coming late 2026. “I See Blue” is the clearest window yet into what the record sounds like — and what the record sounds like is a band that stopped holding anything back.
We know how the album name sounds. We also know what’s on it.
Every song we’ve released leading up to this record has been preparing the ground. “With Feeling.”“There’s A Place I Go.”“Chutes & Ladders.”“Beatitudes.” Each one was a different angle on the same question we keep asking: what does it mean to write a song that actually tells the truth? What does it cost? What does it give back?
Simping for Big Toilet is the answer. And “I See Blue” is the door in.
If you’ve been following us since the early days of the NYC indie folk scene — since the small venues, since K — you’re going to hear how far we’ve come. If you’re new here and “I See Blue” is the first thing you’ve found: welcome. This is what we do. There’s more where this came from.
Where Are We Playing?
We have two New York City shows confirmed:
June 4 — The Delancey, New York City
August 3 — Mercury Lounge, New York City
The Delancey and Mercury Lounge are two of the rooms where this kind of music lives in New York. We’ve talked before about what makes the NYC indie folk scene different from anywhere else — small stages, discerning audiences, no room for performance over substance. These shows will be that. Come early.
FAQ: Everything You Want to Know About “I See Blue”
Where can I stream “I See Blue” right now?
Everywhere music lives. The direct streaming link is distrokid.com/hyperfollow/thewonderlicks/i-see-blue. You can also find it through our music page.
What does “I See Blue” sound like?
V13 called it catchy, pleasant, charming, and radio-friendly with 90s alternative pop energy. Static Multimedia called it a bittersweet Americana love story. Jacob calls it the most melodic thing we’ve made. All three of those are true simultaneously and none of them contradict each other.
Is “I See Blue” connected to the themes on Simping for Big Toilet?
Yes — but in the way that a key is connected to a door. It opens something. The full picture arrives when the album does.
Who produced “I See Blue” and the upcoming album?
John Jackson produced Simping for Big Toilet, including “I See Blue.” His previous credits include The Kinks, The Jayhawks, Caleb Caudle, and Trapper Schoepp.
What happened before The Wonder Licks?
Jacob and Tyler made two records together as Vega Maestro — Hello Voyeur (2020) and God Mic (2023) — before The Wonder Licks became the central project. Simping for Big Toilet follows the Wonder Licks debut full-length K, Ok, O.K., OKAY! Our about page has the full story.
When does Simping for Big Toilet come out?
Late 2026. Get on the mailing list through thewonderlicks.band and you’ll hear it when we’re ready to let it go.
The Best Music You’ve Never Heard Is Almost Here
Image and extravagance have never been the point. The songs are the point. They always have been.
“I See Blue” is the proof.
🎵 Stream “I See Blue”
📰 Read the V13 premiere
🌐 thewonderlicks.band
🎟 June 4 — The Delancey, NYC | August 3 — Mercury Lounge, NYC