After a decade of producing for other artists, Solomon Fox is finally stepping into his own spotlight. With his debut solo album ‘Sweettooth,’ released Thursday, Oct. 9, the Los Angeles-based musician presents the culmination of five years of work — a project that feels as personal as it is polished. Throughout his career, Fox has quietly written songs while building a reputation as a trusted producer. It took time, he says, to get comfortable with letting people in.
“I’ve been writing songs my whole life,” said Fox. “A lot of times, I was hesitant to share my own stuff because it was just more personal.” Over the last five years, Fox released a few scattered singles, but ‘Sweettooth’ marks his first major project as a solo artist. “It really felt like it was just time to let some stuff fly – all this stuff I’ve been working on,” he said. “I just felt like the time was right to share some of the more personal stuff I’ve been doing.”
For Fox, ‘Sweettooth’ is both a creative reset and a form of storytelling. “This project has a lot more storytelling. [Something] I haven’t really done before,” he said. “It’s a little bit more introspective and intimate.” He describes the album as a journey, one that mirrors the shifting moods of his own life. “There are some moments that are really fun and outgoing and upbeat and dancey, and other moments where it’s just the guitar and the voice in the room with you,” he said. “I think there’s a song for every mood in this project.” Fox hopes listeners find pieces of themselves in the music. “I want people to be excited and kind of integrate it into their lives in a way that feels, you know, natural,” he said.
At the heart of ‘Sweettooth’ lies the story of a fading relationship — that liminal space between holding on and letting go. “I wanted to delve into that experience with the pulls of comfort and the familiarity of somebody that you once loved,” Fox said. “The actual experience of basically breaking up with somebody over a period of two years but also falling back in love and wanting the best for them.”
Much of the album took shape after Fox relocated to Los Angeles. He was navigating the distance between his partner and his new city while trying to find balance in both. On “Reconcile,” one of the album’s standouts, he channels that tension into a slow, melancholic meditation filled with stuttering rhythms and looping instrumentals. Fox says ‘Sweettooth’ also explores the way life moves — fast, unpredictable, and always changing. It’s a theme that threads naturally through his story.
Coming from a musical family, Fox learned piano at an early age and went on to teach himself guitar, bass, drums, ukulele, banjo, and mandolin. “I basically play whatever I can figure out well enough to find something cool,” he said. “Being a producer has allowed me to figure out how to layer them and integrate them. I’m pretty bad at trumpet, but I’m trying to get that one going.”
The piano, though, remains his anchor. “That’s the one that I feel the most is like an extension of me,” he said. “I can just sit at the piano and not think about anything and it’s almost therapeutic for me to just express myself through that.”
Music has always been a family affair. Fox grew up making songs with his brother Elijah, who’s also a musician based in LA. “Looking back, all a lot of those songs sound horrible, but they were a really crucial part of the process,” he said. In middle and high school, he joined bands, partly to collaborate and partly to find community. “It’s really just been a very natural part of how I exist in the world for as long as I can remember,” he said. “It’s become a part of my personality in a way.”
Now, after twenty years of making music — starting at age eight and writing songs by fifteen — Fox’s creative instinct feels sharper than ever. “When I hear something, when I think of an idea, and I’m like, oh, that would sound interesting on this sound. Like what if it was like a Spanish guitar sounding thing or what if it was a crazy horn,” he said. “My instinct is just to try it and see what works.” His years as a producer gave him both technical precision and creative freedom. “I would feel way less secure if I didn’t have that background,” Fox said. “I’m bringing a lot of the experience of what I’ve done with other artists, [things] that I maybe wouldn’t have ever done on my own if I was just trying to make an album without having any production experience.”
That experience also made ‘Sweettooth’ a collaborative space. The album features three songs with guest artists, including “Starry Eyes” featuring Duckwrth. Its video pairs Fox’s soft, cinematic delivery with Duckwrth’s energetic performance, creating a perfect push-and-pull between restraint and release. “There are a bunch of features on this project, which is really exciting,” Fox said. “A lot of my solo work to this point has been very self-contained. It’s me in my bedroom, late at night, with no one else listening.”
Fox says collaboration remains central to his process. “I love working with people I already know, but obviously there’s a lot of people I’d love to work with that I haven’t had the chance to yet,” he said. “I’m constantly around new people, but I think my favorite people to collaborate are people that I have a relationship with outside of music. I feel like when there’s that type of relationship, you can kind of get into new territory.”
With the album now out, Fox is preparing for his first tour, performing in eight cities through the end of October. “It’s going to be a lot of fun to see people face to face and show them the music,” he said. “I’m also like an improviser, so it’s going to be a different show every night in some ways, which will be really fun.” The tour will double as a rare break from his production work. “The longest break I’ve had from being a producer is about a week, so I’m excited for this extended break from the studio,” he said. “I think every time I do take a break, I come back feeling really refreshed. I’m excited for it because I think I’ll come back with fresh ideas and I’m excited for it for that reason too.”
Even with Sweettooth out in the world, Fox has no plans to step away from producing. “I’m definitely by no means hanging up the cleats as a producer. If anything, I’m excited to dive back into that world after this album,” he said. “I work on a lot of projects, [with] a lot of different people, and I get to travel a lot, which is really a blessing.”
As for what’s next, Fox doesn’t feel the need to decide. “I am both things, and even if I’m not able to do them literally at once, I always end up coming back,” he said. “They both feed me in different ways. I’ll always be a producer and a collaborator.”
Featured Images: Demarquis McDaniels
