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Photo: Songs of Solomon

Songs of Solomon on “Come To Your Senses”, Collaborating with CheraLee and Finding Strength in Vulnerability

Southampton singer-songwriter Solomon Machanick, the voice behind Songs of Solomon, joins forces with South African vocalist CheraLee for “Come To Your Senses”, a pop-rock duet exploring the distance between declaring a relationship over and truly letting go. Built around two people wrestling with pride, lingering affection and the effort of keeping up appearances, the single asks what becomes possible when both sides finally choose honesty.

Produced by André Hurter at Montana Studios, the release brings Solomon’s storytelling into an energetic setting, with contrasting vocals giving each side of the relationship its own character. Beneath the musical momentum sits a question: can admitting you still care become the first step towards something different?

In our interview, Solomon discusses the collaboration’s beginnings, the details that shaped their performances and the humility behind the song’s central lyric. He also reflects on faith, forgiveness and why he leaves these characters with a chance at reconciliation.

Your new single, “Come To Your Senses”, explores the feelings that linger after a relationship ends. What first sparked the idea for the song?

The idea was that saying a relationship is over and actually letting go can happen at very different times. I wanted to write about the gap between those two things. You tell your friends you’re fine, keep yourself busy, avoid a few places. Then something completely ordinary brings that person back into your head, and you realise your feelings haven’t agreed to any of your plans.

There’s pain in that, but there’s also something very human, even a little ridiculous, about two people putting so much effort into pretending they don’t want each other. That contradiction gave me a lot to write about.

How did your collaboration with CheraLee come about, and what made her the right voice to share this story with you?

André Hurter, who produced the track at Montana Studios, brought us together. He suggested CheraLee, sent her the song, and we ended up having a conversation that lasted more than an hour. I actually joked that André should put “Music Matchmaker” after his name.

CheraLee has the strength and character in her voice to hold her own in this story. You need to believe that both people have their own pride, their own hurt and a reason for holding back. Her voice gives that other perspective a real presence. She was enthusiastic from our first conversation, and that was a lovely way to begin.

The line “Come to your senses, I’ll come to mine” asks both people to take responsibility. How did you arrive at that turning point in the lyrics?

“I’ll come to mine” is the part that makes the whole idea work for me. “Come to your senses” can sound as though you’re telling someone else they’re the problem. Once you admit that you need to do the same, the conversation changes.

I wanted that admission in the song. The person singing has to give something too. You can’t ask someone to put their pride down while you’re still holding tightly to yours. There’s a little humility in that line, and a little humour as well. Both people have been stubborn. At some point, somebody has to acknowledge it.

Writing a duet means giving both sides of a relationship a voice. How did you approach their individual perspectives while keeping listeners sympathetic to both?

I gave them different versions of the same defence. There’s the person replaying the ending, hoping to make sense of it, and the person insisting they’re ready to move on, keeping busy and trying to look as though everything has settled.

The small details matter to me: an avoided place, a swallowed word, a smile that feels borrowed. You can recognise the effort it takes to keep up appearances when something still hurts.

That’s where the sympathy comes from. You understand what each person is protecting. Hopefully, somewhere in the song, you recognise yourself in both voices.

Your music is rooted in dark country, Americana and folk. What drew you towards a more energetic pop-rock sound for this release?

Storytelling is the thread through my music. Dark country, Americana and folk give me a lot of room for that, but pop and rock are part of my musical world too. I love a melody that stays with you and a chorus people want to sing.

This song has a restless quality. These two people keep leaving, returning, insisting they’re finished and then proving themselves wrong. The energy of the arrangement suits that movement, and the attraction that’s still there.

I still recognise myself in it completely. The questions underneath are familiar ones for me: what do we feel, what do we struggle to say, and what happens when we finally say it?

The song pairs painful emotions with a vibrant arrangement. How did you find the balance between the tension in the lyrics and the energy of the music?

The energy comes from the fact that there’s still something alive between them. They’re hurt and frustrated, but there’s also attraction, warmth and the possibility of getting back to something good. I wanted that feeling to come through.

The words carry the things they’ve found difficult to admit, while the music gives you some sense of why they keep coming back. That combination feels quite true to life to me. You can be upset with someone and still feel your whole mood change when they walk into the room.

The challenge was giving the lyrics enough space to land while keeping that lift in the track.

What did CheraLee bring to the song that surprised you or changed how you heard it?

There was a vocal phrase we discussed during the recording because it had a little rawness to it. I liked that quality. It gave the line character, and it reminded me how much feeling can live in a small detail of somebody’s voice.

You can know your own lyric very well and still hear something different when another singer takes it on. CheraLee brought her own phrasing and personality, which made that other side of the conversation feel real.

She also cared about the energy of the whole record. She wanted it to make people move and sing along, and she was quite clear about that. I appreciated how invested she was.

With you based in Southampton and CheraLee in South Africa, how did you work together on the recording and build that sense of connection between your performances?

We recorded separately, with André producing at Montana Studios, and stayed in touch through recordings, messages and detailed feedback. There was a lot of listening to what the other voice was doing.

We got into quite specific things: how strongly a phrase was sung, where a harmony would help, and whether both voices had equal presence. Even “I’ll come to mine” needed the right balance of feeling between us.

Those details matter because a duet has to feel like people responding to each other. The distance made us pay attention to that. You build the connection by listening, adjusting and giving the other person room.

Love, loss, faith and resilience run through your songwriting. What did writing this song reveal to you about the relationship between vulnerability and strength?

It brought me back to how much courage there can be in a very small admission. “I still care.” “I miss you.” “I got that wrong.” They’re simple things to say, but you can spend a long time finding ways to avoid saying them.

My faith is part of how I understand grace, forgiveness and the possibility of beginning again. Those ideas naturally find their way into my writing.

Here, the hopeful moment comes when both people become willing to admit something they’ve been protecting themselves from. You can be frightened of the answer and still ask the question. There’s strength in that.

As listeners reach the end of “Come To Your Senses”, do you imagine these two people finding their way back to each other, or is that ending deliberately left open?

I lean towards hope. With that repeated “We’ll come back somehow,” I hear two people who haven’t finished with each other. But coming back and making it work are two different things.

The song leaves them with a chance to have the conversation they’ve been avoiding. Whether they use it is open. Some listeners may hear a second chance; others may recognise the danger of going round the same circle again.

I’d like to believe that this time, something changes because they’ve both admitted what they feel. I’m happy to leave them there, with the possibility of a different ending.

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FVMusicBlog November 2026

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