After their multi-million stream hit ‘See You in Hell,’ Nora Kelly Band has released their first single, ‘Port City Blues,’ from their forthcoming album So Wrong For So Long.
Ships pass in the night as Kelly belts her seaborne ballad in search of love and light. Lush and cinematic, the track features swelling strings, dramatic horns, and Kelly’s distinctive vocals, lacing country lyricism with her spunky punk instincts.
Produced by Marcus Paquin (The National, Arcade Fire), the bold sonic arrangement brings texture and vastness to Kelly’s storytelling about “loneliness and a longing for stability.” She wrote the song while snowed-in at a cabin in Northern Quebec.
“I feel sometimes like the ‘Port City’ I sing about,” she says. “The song is a nod to my hometown of Vancouver, which is a metaphor for feeling like a place that people go to when they need something, but not for deeper connection. Some places are like some times in life. Everyone seems to just be passing through.”
'Port City Blues’ is arguably Kelly’s most vulnerable song to date, but true to the band’s form, they’ve paired the release with a tongue-in-cheek music video.
Directed by Jordan Minkoff, the video is staged like a community play featuring the band and handmade oceanic sculptures—fish, seagulls, and cut-out waves. Merging whimsical humour with theatrical sentiment, it opens with Kelly lost at sea in a small boat. The audience oohs and aahs as they marvel at her stormy voyage, until she’s rescued by a giant, human-sized lobster, who she falls in love with.
“This album is about finding the true meaning of strength,” says Kelly. “‘Port City Blues’ is the departure point in that story.”
The full album is set for release via on May 2026.
Listen to Port City Blues wherever you stream music.