Torgny Amdam has today released his new single titled ‘I Don’t Handle This Very Well’, featuring Maria Due and Iver Armand (Mall Girl, Tigerstate), from his upcoming album ‘Air Mail’, dropping in February via Telemachus Records.
There’s something quietly disarming about ‘I Don’t Handle This Very Well’. Not because it’s dramatic or sonically overwhelming, but because it refuses to pretend it has anything figured out.
On this track, Torgny Amdam leans into emotional uncertainty with a kind of uncomfortable honesty that feels rare in modern pop-adjacent music. Featuring Maria Due, the song doesn’t chase catharsis or resolution. Instead, it lingers in the middle of fear, anxiety, and emotional paralysis; the part most songs rush past on their way to something more uplifting.
The title says everything it needs to. There’s no metaphor, no clever phrasing, just a flat admission that feels almost embarrassing in its simplicity. That’s exactly why it works. This isn’t a song about surviving something. It’s about being stuck inside it.
Musically, the track is stripped down to its essentials. A repeating figure anchors the song, cycling without release, while the production stays intentionally sparse. Nothing swells. Nothing explodes. The arrangement feels circular, mirroring the way anxious thoughts loop when there’s no clear way out. It’s less about progression and more about atmosphere; a slow, steady tension that never quite lets go.
Maria Due’s vocal performance is the emotional centerpiece. Her voice sounds fragile in a way that feels deliberate, slightly processed but never polished. The imperfections matter here. Every wavering note reinforces the sense that this song is happening in real time, as if it could fall apart at any moment. It’s intimate without being performative and vulnerable without trying to win sympathy.
What really sets the track apart is its refusal to offer comfort. There’s no emotional release waiting at the end, no lyrical pivot toward hope or clarity. The song just… stops. And that feels honest. Some feelings don’t resolve cleanly. Some fears don’t come with lessons attached. Amdam seems to understand that, and he trusts the listener enough not to fake an ending.
‘I Don’t Handle This Very Well’ isn’t designed for playlists or passive listening. It asks you to sit still and pay attention, to the spaces, the tension, the things left unsaid. It’s a song for late nights, overthinking spirals, and moments when honesty matters more than answers.
Bottom line: raw, restrained, and quietly devastating. Amdam doesn’t try to fix the feeling; he documents it. And sometimes, that’s enough.
About ‘I Don’t Handle This Very Well’
‘I Don’t Handle This Very Well’ marks the return of Maria Due, the Norwegian singer-songwriter and musician known from some of Amdam’s most memorable tracks including “Big Day” and “Dying Hipster.” Her pristine voice is deliberately distorted through Auto-Tune, creating a fragile contrast to the song’s sombre arrangement—a sonic choice that mirrors the delicate, distorted nature of the subject matter.
“I was aiming for a kind of simplicity with this song—I felt the lyrics needed that,” Amdam explains.
The stripped-down production centres around an iconic guitar riff from Iver Armand (known from Mall Girl and Tigerstate), layered over seismic, minimal beats. The restraint in the arrangement allows the emotional weight of the lyrics to breathe, creating space for the gravity of the subject to resonate.
Lyrically, “I Don’t Handle This Very Well” deals with the fear, helplessness, and complicated emotions surrounding suicide—a topic Amdam approaches with characteristic vulnerability and unflinching honesty. The deliberate distortion of Due’s typically pristine vocals adds an element of instability and fragility, reflecting the precarious emotional state the song explores.
Following the father-daughter collaboration “Just Cry” (featuring his daughter April) and the intimate Norwegian spoken-word piece “Kjæresten min” (My Girlfriend), “I Don’t Handle This Very Well” continues Amdam’s exploration of life’s most difficult emotional territories on ‘Air Mail’.
“The push and pull between closeness and distance is something I’ve worked with very deliberately on this record, with arrogant swagger at one end and the fetal position at the other,” Amdam previously explained. “I Don’t Handle This Very Well” sits firmly at the vulnerable end of that spectrum—raw, honest, and achingly human.
The electronica and breakbeat-tinted production, combined with Armand’s guitar work and Due’s distorted vocals, creates an unexpected sonic landscape that positions Amdam as an artist unafraid to blend bold experimentation with devastating emotional truth.
‘Air Mail’, Amdam’s most personal work to date, is set for release in February 2026 via Telemachus Records.
About Torgny Amdam
Torgny Amdam is an Oslo-based Norwegian alt-pop/electronic artist known for cinematic production and unflinching emotional honesty. His 2019 album ‘Bathroom Stall Confessional’ established his narrative-driven approach, blending electronica, breakbeat, and spoken-word elements. His upcoming album ‘Air Mail’ (February 2026 via Telemachus Records) explores themes of family, relationships, intimacy, and loss through collaborations with his daughter April, long-time collaborator Maria Due, and guitarist Iver Armand.