London-to-LA singer-songwriter SOLOMON delves deep on “HONEYCOATED”, his most personal project yet. 

Merging the sonic tendencies of R&B, pop and bossa nova, fluid and noteworthy guitarist and singer-songwriter SOLOMON is back with a potent and personal new project. “HONEYCOATED” is a characterful and musical growth of “FOR STARTERS”, his promising debut EP a few years back. The new work, made alongside mintsauce and Ian Holmes, is a documentation of the artist’s journey, told with introspective poise atop vibrant instrumentals. 

SOLOMON’s reflections on “HONEYCOATED” as a whole:

”HONEYCOATED”, bridges the gap between the artist I was when I first started releasing and the one I’m currently becoming. 

My first EP, “FOR STARTERS”, was a buffet offering a variety of the potential flavours you’ll get from me down the line but “HONEYCOATED” feels like a more cohesive/sticky, sweet blend, incorporating some of my core sounds, Acoustic Soul, RnB, Pop, Soft Rock, all with a light sprinkling of Bossa nova. 

For me, this project isn’t just a story, it’s the “Once upon a time…” of the tale I’m about to tell throughout my career. 

It’s the beginning of a journey I’m taking everyone on. The portals in my album artwork symbolise stepping into a new world and this is just the first of many. 

Making this project has been an incredibly cathartic process. I had the pleasure of recording and co-producing it in LA with my brothers in arms, mintsauce and Ian Rasch-Holmes. 

The whole thing was done in around 2 weeks, building out production around each song. 

We’d start with bits and pieces of ideas I already had for all the songs – it really became about bringing them all to life whilst letting them become what it felt as though they wanted to be. 

Some songs were harder to do it with than others but it was super rewarding to finish. 

After a year away, it’s been such a relief to come back with a more fun (but still pretty sad) pop-leaning project. 

I always tend to find myself gravitating towards Bossa nova elements and so blending them throughout this project with genres such as Pop (‘unrequited’) or Soft Rock (‘problem’) whilst maintaining my signature acoustic sound felt like such an instinctive direction for me to take. 

Listen…

Track-by-Track rundown…

“unrequited”

I wrote this one in an uber on the way to an LA session with Al Shux (Kendrick Lamar, SZA). 

I just now pulled up the voice recordings of the first ever moment the idea was sparked and it’s crazy to listen back to! 

I found a Bossa nova chord pattern on guitar and the lyrics and melody for the first line “do you like me as much as I like you?“ just spurted straight out.

I played the rough idea I had for Al as soon as I arrived and before long we were bringing the idea to life!

“18”

I wrote “18” in 2021 in Vancouver. It came to me first thing in the early hours of the morning and always felt like the first piece of the puzzle to me or the first domino. 

It’s the entry point for a continual concept I plan to bring to life throughout the next portion of my musical career. 

It’s set in a dream in which the journey through worlds via various portals will begin. 

“downward spiral”

I started this song in LA with a great producer, Felix Joseph. He was playing me some samples he had dug up from vinyls with his friend and landed on one from a cover of a song called “Sabor a Mi”. 

It had been sped up and sounded simultaneously frantic and beautiful; like a cross between something you’d hear in an elevator or an old Mexican supermarket. 

It struck me so the lyrics and melodies just fell outta me. The descending chord pattern felt like falling so the concept of a “downward spiral” came apparent much right away. 

Within the project, this song represents falling through the portal in the dream that is “18”. 

At the lyrics “cut you off” I thought it’d be cool to have all the music cut too. I asked Felix, what if we make it sound like the beat is actually being CUT with scissors? 

Next thing you know, he’s at the microphone, scissors in hand, snipping the air trying to get a decent one.

I finished it in London with my boys mintsauce and Ian Holmes, where we added bass, more drums, backing vocals and built it all out into what it is currently. 

“steal my soul”

I had a great time writing this one with a couple friends of mine Steve Knight and Hannah V. 

It wasn’t until I mentioned to Steve I was releasing a bossa nova influenced project that he reminded me about this song. 

We sat and listened to it in the car and I thought: DUH. How could I forget? It’s as if it was MADE for this project. It just fit the vibe perfectly. 

“robbery”

This song was a long-awaited fan fave for sure. It’s the first original song I ever posted on TikTok shortly after writing it in my bedroom. 

It had a great reception and was highly requested during every livestream I would do. One of my favourite songs I’ve written to date. 

I started a version with RISC (Cat Burns, Pink Panthress) in London and finished it in LA with mintsauce and Ian! 

“cops n robbers”

This is one of the most fun, energetic songs on the project. It’s about someone who carelessly drags you into their childish, game-playing ways. 

That’s why I made sure to reference pretty much any game that came to mind from Chess to Snakes and Ladders, Football to Rock, Paper, Scissors. 

I even threw a little Minecraft double entendre at the end of second verse with: “she took everything out of my chest, now I don’t even have any diamonds left.” 

“stranger”

I wrote “stranger” on my bed in London back in 2021. 

It was amongst the first few original songs I used to tease on TikTok. 

A few members of my Filipino following loved this song because I threw some Tagalog wordplay into the second verse where I refer to the girl I’m singing about as a game player. 

I go through the verse listing increasing levels of gaming difficulties (easy, medium, expert, impossible). 

I sing: “just take it easier on me diumano [“allegedly” in Tagalog but also sounds like “medium, I know” in English] she don’t know what that means so she pulls out the stops and climbs to the top, her expertise make her impossible to beat.”

“over”

This song is super special.  The session was with Daoud Anthony (J Cole, Kehlani, Sabrina Carpenter, Lizzo) at Metropolis Studios in London. 

We’d been playing around with a decent idea but towards the end of the session he started playing me some samples he’d made. I loved them. They felt classic and nostalgic. 

One of them really hit me. It had a Bossa nova guitar with a soft keys melody (you can hear in the second pre-chorus). 

I swear to you, about 5 minutes later I’d written the whole song. His sample inspired me so much, the lyrics and melodies came so effortlessly. 

He had me replay the acoustic guitar part and I scrambled over to the mic to get it all down. 

Daoud hit me with the “ahhh” backing vocals you hear in the chorus and outro which I loved. 

We then blasted through the whole thing lightning fast as we didn’t have much time left and in about 15-20 minutes, “over” had been born. 

I listened to the demo on repeat the whole way home, it soon became one of my favourite songs. 

I spruced it up months later in LA with my boys mintsauce and Ian Holmes, adding a few extras and making the track breathe a little more. 

“problem”

I remember writing this song on a gloomy, grey, rainy evening in my childhood bedroom in London. 

I don’t know what inspired it but it’s about denial. It’s based on the idea of finally turning your back on someone who’s guilty of convincing you that everyone else is the problem. 

This song represents a pivotal turning point – the realisation that it’s not everyone else with the problem but the one forcing you to believe they were. 

What I love is that it can also be construed as a message to oneself about refusing to fall for your own games anymore. 

Also that second verse is one of my favourites ever. Every line is math – like I’m calculating (or trying to solve a “problem”).