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. 13 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 13 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

A video put together from all our travels. All the beautiful places we have seen. Ill let the video speak for itself.
An adventure to explore the art of "less is more" on the roads through northern Spain. Surfing, enjoying, sharing, seeking. Lost and found, a stack of shaky clips from our year on the road, second time around. I’m trying to encapsulate the vibe, the feels, the views and emotions of life when living slow to remind myself of our why in life. But why? Well, I feel as lost but yet not as found as these memories at the moment. It’s been too long since I saw the ocean and it’s been too long since I was in peace. Our goals are clear, our why is set, but the journey now is foggy and I’m afraid of getting lost in this grey zone. So here I am. Reminding myself. Reminding myself of our why. It looks and sounds and feels a little like this. 10 months stacked into 3 minutes. A reminder to not loose ourselves in expectations and consumption and unnecessary responsibilities.  People often confront with ”When are you gonna stop floating around just having a good time? That is not real life”. Well, in fact it’s a very real life. The floating is what keeps us alive and the search for slow stillness is what nurtures us. Giving us time to slow down is giving ourselves the most valuable gift there is. People often ask ”When are you gonna become responsible grown ups?”. The answer is, we already are. We’re taking great responsibility of our longings, dreams, visions and goals and we’re very consciously working with and against the norms and exceptions every day. And trust me. It’s a battle. Tagging along like a fish in a very rapid stream is actually very easy. I find myself in there more often than I wish for. The current of expectation is strong. Trying to swim slowly on the side and sometimes even in the opposite direction is hard. Very hard.  To us, this is more than just another trip. To us, this is more than something we do to now tick boxes on a bucket list. To us, this is our life trip, our ongoing adventure and our strive to always keep the ability to find our way in and out of the current. A very valuable insight, in fact essential. So. This was not our first pilgrimage adventure, and this was not our last. Now, let us be guided by our past. To be continued.  Follow us on Instagram Anna: www.instagram.com/utsikternas Martin: www.instagram.com/insikternas The van: www.instagram.com/waysofbodil MUSIC "Sail on" by Johan Lake EDIT Anna Bergman CAMERA Anna Bergman & Martin Nordstedt BOARD LOVE @jdshapes (https://www.instagram.com/jdshapes/)
Released August 2013

Released August 2013

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.

Photo: @thomasbrunfilm

Photo: @thomasbrunfilm

clock on the image below to see more images.

New song out March 2026!