Jonah Lake

First of all I am so grateful to all of you who still listen to my songs. I thought it would last 2-3 years max. Not even my close friends believed in me. 12 years later and I’m back after a long time away.

With my two albums Free soul and Neverland I have travelled the globe looking for the perfect waves while playing my music at different venues and festivals. From Lofoten in Norway and all over New Zealand to tropical Indonesia, Sri Lanka and across Europe. What started off as a small side project turned into so much more.

I took the artist name Jonah Lake while living in a cabin for 5 days next to a Swedish lake. Johan became Jonah and Lake sounded better than Ocean. Jonah Ocean sounded more like a house DJ which I am not.

I was writing on some songs with an island/reggae vibe to them and I had a few older songs I thought would mix well with the new ones. So I decided to record an acoustic album called Free Soul. The album was recorded with only two Röde microphones, one Apogee audiointerface and a Macbook pro during July 2013 in a 9 square meter livingroom in Gothenburg.

I wrote all songs, played all instruments, recorded, sang, produced and mastered everything on my own recordlabel Tangled up in blue records.

That's 12 years ago. Since then I've played over 10 countries and met so many amazing people on the way. Enough jamsessions for a few lifetimes.

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SOMEONE USED MY SONGS FOR THEIR TRAVEL VIDEO COMPILATION

In February 2025 Jonahs album Free soul passed 4 million streams on Spotify. In October it passed 5 million.

The end of Jonah Lake?

Because of a medical problem (wear and tear) on my left hand I am no longer doing concerts. And because of mental health issues I’ve decided not to continue with Jonah Lake anymore. I got so many new songs but I was never happy with any of the recordings so I deleted it all.

Here is a photo of one of my last official concert as Jonah Lake. Shot during the Hoddevik surffestival 2019 in a 100 year old school. There was only a few more concerts in New Zealand after this. My last time on a small stage playing three of my own songs were in Indonesia 2025.