I have always been more of a melodic guy rather than lyrical. When I hear a song for the first time, it comes down to the melody to charm me. Maybe that’s because I’m from Iceland and English is my second language, but I still feel the same way with Icelandic songs. However, even if I like the melody, the lyrics also have to make sense for the song to become a favorite. The beauty of music is that both the melody and lyrics are ways for the songwriters to express their emotions.

When I write a song, I always come up with the melody first. I press record on my computer, play some chords on my guitar and sing a melody with lyrics that make no sense. I try to create a melody that reflects the way I really feel at that time. Afterwards, I write lyrics that fit the mood of the moment.

Luckily, I am full of joy most of the time and therefore, some of the tunes are full of happiness. I find that music helps me even more whenever I’m down, because I can collect all of my feelings into one song and just spit it all out.

Only once have I been heartbroken; I was 20 years old, and it felt like my life was over. After a few weeks, I sat down with my guitar to try and get rid of all those distracting emotions. It was as if I fell into a trance, because both the melody and the words just came to me. I had an old PC laptop in front of me that could only record one minute at a time, but I just kept hitting the rec button and five minutes later I had a song; a song that said everything that was going through my mind. The song is called “To Her” because the words were directed to the girl that made me feel this way.

Visit Jon’s Bandcamp site to hear (and purchase) the rest of his latest album, Wait for Fate.

A Songwriter's Story, Music