For this New Music Friday, Danish-Swedish indie pop duo Nordly releases their brand-new single “Punctured Balloon,” their first song of the year. Formed in 2019 by AnnaMia Lindblom from Sweden and Frederik Breith-Mortensen from Denmark, Nordly has quietly built a body of work that reflects life’s small moments and emotional shifts.
With nine singles and a 2024 EP titled Den rastløse drøm, Nordly has established a distinct sound that drifts between indie pop, folk, and spoken word. They write in Danish, Swedish, and English, letting the story shape the language. “Sometimes a line sounds more poetic in Danish than in Swedish,” they explain, using each language’s rhythm to bring their ideas to life.
Now, the duo returns with a new single, “Punctured Balloon,” their first in collaboration with Swedish producer Petter Nygårdh. Written in their kitchen and shaped by Copenhagen’s harbor winds, the song explores the pain of a broken friendship and the slow healing that follows. “It’s about missing someone, but also being okay with where you are now,” AnnaMia shares.
Nordly’s music has earned airplay on Danish national radio and brought them to stages across Denmark and Sweden. As they prepare for the birth of their first child and more new releases later this year, “Punctured Balloon” captures the tender in-between: loss, reflection, and renewal.
Keep reading for an intimate conversation with Nordly about finding connection through music, navigating multiple languages, and why songwriting is their way of breathing.
How would you describe your music?
Our music is dreamy indiepop with drumbeats and clean vocals. We like to write songs about challenges in life and let music heal us. If our music were a weather condition, it would be the feeling after a rainy day, and when the sun suddenly shows up again.
What inspired you to form a band and pursue a career in music together?
We met through a music ad that Frederik had placed on a website for musicians. Frederik was looking for someone to write songs with, and AnnaMia responded. We met in Frederik’s apartment in Copenhagen and started jamming together; at that time, our music was more jazzy and spoken wordy. We felt we had a good music connection, and we both grew up with fathers who played, which taught us that music is a language. We started writing songs together almost immediately and decided to form a band. Music is a big part in both our lives, it’s a way to breathe for us. So the option to not have a band is not relevant. Today we are married and live together, and the songwriting process is constant.
How did you choose your stage name, Nordly, and does it hold any special significance for you?
We started with the name “Nordlyd” which means North sound, but we quickly changed it to “Nordly” which refers to taking shelter in the north, which we think we do through music. Music moves us into the warmth and away from the noises in life. “Nord” means north and “ly” means shelter in danish. You could translate it to “Shelter in north”
Your music spans Danish, Swedish, and English. How do you decide which language best serves a particular song’s story?
At first, we wrote mostly in our native languages, Frederik in Danish and AnnaMia in Swedish, but the more we got to know each other’s style, it became a unified language where we wrote and corrected each other’s text suggestions. Sometimes we start to write in one language and then decide to translate it to another, it helps us discover and develop our lyrics by working in different languages. A sentence that sounds banal in Swedish can sound very poetic in Danish and vice versa. Today, we are more focused on writing in English, with sometimes a few lines from our native language, because we think our music deserves a more international audience.
Can you tell us about your new single, “Punctured Balloon”?
Punctured Balloon is the first song we have recorded in collaboration with the Swedish producer Petter Nygårdh (producer of Many Voices Speak). It was written in the kitchen in our apartment while Frederik was cooking dinner. AnnaMia started out singing and playing guitar and wanted to express a feeling of a broken friendship and homesickness. We developed the song together, but we like to have a current feeling as a starting point in a song. We have used several days in Petters studio to get in sound right. Some of the sounds are inspired by the harbour in Copenhagen.
What’s the meaning behind the song?
The feeling and the meaning of the song are about missing a friend from the past and the acceptance of changes in life, and enjoying where you are now. The sentence “Punctured Balloon” refers to a broken friendship and the feeling of letting go of it.
What was the initial spark or moment that inspired this track?
AnnaMia has lost touch with her best friend in Stockholm, she used to bike to the harbor in Copenhagen after work, and felt that the wind and air around the harbor made her heal from the sorrows she felt about the broken friendship. It helped her connect more to Copenhagen and get more grounded in her new hometown and accept that relationships change through life.
“Punctured Balloon” marks your first release since your debut EP, Den rastløse drøm. How do you feel your sound or storytelling has evolved since then?
Since we released our EP “Den rastløse drøm” we have been working mostly on English songs and currently have several in progress. Our sound has become a more energetic but still warm and slightly dreamy sound, We are also focusing more on singing together and the sound we get with the combination of our vocals.
Looking ahead, what can listeners expect from Nordly in the coming months?
We are planning to continue work with the Swedish producer Petter Nygårdh. There will be more single releases from us and hopefully a full album one day.
What is a message you would like to give through your music and why?
Music is a healing force and a language; no subject in life is too small or too big not to make a song of it. Even though things from our past have hurt our souls, we use them as a driving force in everyday life and see the light through this musical narrative.
Is there anything else you’d like people to know?
AnnaMia has been pregnant for the last 9 months, about as long as it took to produce the song. The single will be released very close to our labor day. The first months after the release will be focusing on our new family member, but we are planning to get back in the studio with Petter Nygårdh in the autumn of 2025.
Listen to Nordly’s “Punctured Balloon” on our Spotify playlist:
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