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Tastemaker, producer, studio chef, now artist, Solomon Fox is a man whose interest carry him into a valences & appetites, you could say he has a Sweettooth for life. On his sophomore album of the same name, the capabilities and candor of this musician are apparent like sweet indulgences, funky notes, hints of sour but always inviting more. We loved the variety in influences, the amazing collaborators, and the spirt of celebration, so much so we ask to join him in studio for a chat:

OnesToWatch: Why are you an artist? 


Solomon Fox: Why? Oh, man, that's a great question. I think it's kind of simple. I don't know what else to do. It's what I've loved since I was a kid. I feel like artists and athletes to me are the two categories that are, for the most part, doing exactly what they thought they were going to be doing when they were seven years old. And I fall very much into that. I just kind of never stopped, and thankfully, I was fortunate enough to make it work as an adult. So here we are. 


How long were you certain that music was the thing you’d do with your life? 


It was always my superpower, my thing, but I wasn't sure that it was going to be my career until college really. I was sort of obsessively keeping my options open. But when I got to college and saw other people finding their “things” that would be their life, I realized I’d had mine all along. That pushed me even further to double down and commit to music. 


How long have you been writing songs with the intent to share or perform them? 


With the intent to share is a different question. I've been writing songs since I was 12 or 13. And I guess I did actually sell CDs that I burned for $4 to my classmates. So that was the beginning of that. But along the way, there have been a lot of periods of making music that I had no intention of sharing. So, this most recent project is a “coming out of a shell moment” too, of letting some stuff loose that I've hoarded for a long time. 


Well, that's a great pivot. What time period does this album represent? How old is the oldest song on this? 

The oldest song is about five years old. But, the core of it is really the last two and a half years, which was essentially since I began ending my most recent relationship. That’s where the story starts, is the beginning of the end of that. There were these cycles of going back and forth with this person and also moving to L.A. in the midst of it all. So the central plot is within the last 2 or 3 years. 

So is Sweettooth your addiction to love and that you keep going back to it even if it's bad for you? 


You got it. That's the first layer of meaning for sure. And, you know, you can English teacher your way down to other meanings, like the very literal way I’m clinically addicted to sugar. 

I'm a big fan of sweet things, too.
I question people that aren't. They're denying something in them. 

Very likely. 

Well, give us the sort of process for Sweettooth the album. Was anything different? How did you go about writing most of the songs? Do you have a consistent process?

I'm a “try every approach” kind of artist. I don't have one consistent way that’s always worked. With this project, I tried to take more intention with writing songs and completing them away from the computer. But that being said, there were some that started as a beat. An average process, though, is that I’d come up with an idea or a hook that I really liked, then my friends would be in town so I’d stop working on it, forget about it for nine months, re-listen, wouldn’t figure it out, try again, and something would click. That’s oddly specific, but the point is that a lot of these songs took a long time. There were some that happened really quick, but I learned the lesson of revisiting things, and taking a longer time to find the right way to do things. All that is to say, it really was a combination of methods, but I left no stone unturned. 

Another thing I always ask about is self-editing. So right now, you have 13 songs on this album, did you have to cut it down to that amount, or is this the collection that came out of the 5 years? 

Even until a few months ago, there were I think 20 songs on the album. So it was definitely whittled down to this 13. That's been the hardest part for me, because I'm a producer and I’ve voyaged into many different spaces – sonically and genre-wise – on this project. So there was a wide range in the songs I was considering for the album. Trying to balance competing desires to make it a cohesive narrative and sonic piece was the longest part of the process. But I'm really happy with where it ended up. 

I love that. I'm always curious about the editing process because I think it's a little bit like cutting off a piece of your body to get out of a dangerous situation. You imagine yourself being able to do it, but when it comes down to it, it’s very difficult to let go of a song that means so much to you. So when we’re talking about a sonic cohesion within the narrative of the album, is that like finding a thematic throughline, or just songs that balance each other? 

It's definitely a balance, but there are side considerations. Honestly, it was a lot of trial and error of just putting songs next to each other and playing them through. Sometimes a song will unexpectedly go really well into another, so it was largely up to experimentation. I tend to hyperfocus on that type of thing. 

I know as a producer, it's probably a little easier collaborating and working with people as it is your core job in many respects. But given this is an artist project for you, how did you choose your features and why? 

Yeah, that's a great question. I had a leg up because I already had a lot of people that I work with that were just willing, which is a big part of the battle, you know? So that was great. But also, the project delves into a lot of different spaces because that's just true to who I am as a creative person. That left a lot of opportunity to dig deeper in on each of those spaces. So I tried to consider where the song was exploring and if there was somebody in my circle that I could tap to take it to the next level? The features were the last thing I did though. I tried to create the world of the songs as much as I could, then turned to some friends to help. 

What is the worst idea you had and did it or did it not make the album? 

Oh, my God. The worst idea. Well, it's tough because there's a very fine line between worst and best. 

That’s why I always ask this question. Because every musician says that, which I love. 

There was this song that was briefly on the album that features an alter ego of mine named Jimmy Brisket. 

Just the name alone I love. 

I don't even know where this character comes from, some kind of Southern alter ego of myself. I mean, I am from South, but it was so sonically different and I really wanted to make it work, but it just was jarring. It would’ve had to have been the last song, but it was so random. It might come out at some point, but it didn’t make the album. 

What about the best idea or execution on the album? What are you most happy with? 

It depends on the day. I feel like I really got to a good place on a lot of the songs. The one lately that I’m so happy about is “Starry Eyes” with Duckwrth, because it just aligned so well with the world that he has been exploring – sonically and thematically. I played him the entire record, and “Starry Eyes” he immediately wanted to do something with. So it was awesome to get him on the song and it felt really fulfilling. 

Do you have goals or ambitions for a release like this? 
Do you visualize something you want to happen with it? 

Every time I've made a plan in my life, it backfires. I've had the blessing of having so many unexpected twists and turns in my career that were a result of me being open to whatever comes my way. Obviously I would love for people to listen to the record and find things that are unexpected to them, that’s my biggest hope, is that people will connect with something surprising. But other than that, I have no crystal ball. 

Diving into some hopefully more fun questions. If you could create your dream lineup at your dream venue, who would you play with and where? Dead or alive, anyone in all of time. 

Currently at the top of my playlist is Dijon, Saya Grey, Nourished by Time. I don't know how they would all come together, but those have been my just top rotation artists lately. I would also love to play with Miles Davis – one of my greatest influences. Some of the other heavy hitters from the jazz world, Tony Williams, Amad Jamal… for a live performance it would be super fun to be with those people that are really dynamic. I can’t pick, I’d have too many people. Joni Mitchell, throw her in there. 

That would be something special.
I love it. If everyone's at the studio and they get hungry, can you whip up a meal? And if so, what would it be? 

Oh, yeah. I definitely whip up some meals. Well, my ex, who a lot of this album is about, is actually a professional chef. So the thing I gained the most from that relationship was tips and tricks on cooking. I thrive with soups and curries, which kind of follows with my way of making music too, which is just tasting as you go, experimenting, getting some nice flavors. But I can also do a good old-fashioned Southern meal, fried chicken and grits.
That’s what I’d do for a dinner party. 

Awesome. I'm going to ask for some recommendations. First, I’d love a general rec – a place to visit, activity you love, workout routine, something to cook, can be whatever. 

This one is very dependent on if you can get to this place. But if you can, there's an island in Greece called Hydra, and on this island, it's about a two hour ferry from Athens, is an incredible studio called Old Carpet Factory that I've been blessed to be brought to about three years ago and I've gone back maybe seven or eight times. It's the most special place in the world. There's no cars on the island. It's just donkeys. Leonard Cohen lived there in the 60s or something. There's a lot of early expat history there, like the Beatles and other lore about counterculture figures doing drugs there in the 60s and 70s. But now, the guy who runs it, Stefanos, is an incredible friend, and he’s also a rare vinyl collector and has the most interesting collection of instruments. There's a Steinway that was built in Athens in the early 1900s, one of very few. There's all these weird organs and Greek folk instruments. It's just a super special place that is endlessly inspiring. Being in that environment, obviously, it's just gorgeous. 


That's one of my favorites I've ever heard. So that's a great rec. Second, I’d love a music recommendation. At OnesToWatch, we love when artists put us on to other artists, so who should we be listening to? 

The first one I think of, I'm wearing her shirt right now: Alex Banin. She's super dope, we've worked a little bit together, but I think she's incredibly slept on and talented. Some of the people I mentioned earlier, too, like Nourished by Time, they’re getting the deserved appreciation. 

Okay, great. Last question, is more giving you some time and space to do what you want. Do you have any advice, anecdotes, shoutouts? 

Well, this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately, and I hate to be the guy who brings up AI at a time like this. But I think – not to fearmonger – but my advice lately is the positive side of AI being so integrated. It's really scary, and for the most part negative to have AI in the creative spaces, or at the very least unclear what's going to happen. But I think the motivating factor is that it's never been a better idea to get more weird and more distinctive with your stuff because AI is more capable of recreating things that have a lot of referential data. So it's never been a better idea to branch out. 
And I think that is actually a weird silver lining, because it's motivating me to be like, all right, let's try some stuff that no one's ever heard before. So that's my advice to artists in this odd era that we're in and entering. 

I love that advice. It's so salient. That's well said. 
Thank you so much for your time. 

Thank you.