Lena Younes is something of a cosmopolitan, having lived all around Western Europe pursuing various studies — from a PhD in Florence that she ultimately abandoned in favor of studying and teaching yoga. Her transformative explorations of breathwork reawakened her path as a songwriter. Now living in Worthing, West Sussex, Younes is producing gorgeous, layered folk music. Her new song, “Fallen Leaves,” is a hypnotic and comforting offering about the impacts of the pandemic on us all. In our interview, Younes explains her approach to songwriting.
Does your album have an overarching theme?
Most of my songs seem be about our relationship with our inner child. I feel that, somewhere along the way, so many of us – myself included – have lost touch the playful, wild and connected part of who we are. My songs are an invitation to find our way back to that part of our human experience.
‘Fallen Leaves’ is perhaps a little more melancholic than my other songs, but with an uplifting message – that we are all connected.
Tell us about the first song you wrote.
The first song I wrote was called ‘She Sits on a Cloud’ and was inspired by a book we had been reading at school (A Dry White Season) – the song was about the child’s perspective and was pretty sad! I was about 16 at the time and I remember the lyrics and melody just coming to me while I was having a bath.
Do you start with the music or lyrics first? Why?
It differs. Sometimes I have a fully formed chorus or verse – music and lyrics – that pops into my head; I will then find the chords on the guitar and carry on from there. I find that that’s the most organic way of writing songs for me – it feels more like they’re writing themselves! At other times I will start with a melody, find the chords, and then let lyrics come from there. Starting with lyrics is a little harder for me as I feel like I have to make the music fit around them.
Who are some of your musical influences?
My background is in jazz, musical theatre and classical music and I think that those influences have definitely formed my approach to music and songwriting. More recently I’ve been listening to a lot of medicine and tribal music so that’s also left its mark – one of my favourite artists over the last few years has been Nessi Gomes. Her music and lyrics have a depth to them that really struck a chord within me. But most of all I believe that music comes from deep within us and is a creative expression of our lived experience!
Do you have any songwriting tips you can share?
As with anything – the best thing to do is to let go of perfectionism (a big learning curve for me), relax and go with the flow. Some songs might never be sung to anyone but yourself, and that’s ok. Write for you rather than for other people – for me at least, adding pressure to ‘succeed’ with things like music takes away the sense of joy and connection songwriting can bring. The other thing I’m learning is that creativity comes in waves – I’ve had months of no new songs being written, and times when they just keep coming up every couple of weeks. And, finally, you can’t mess up!