Alex Solely Explores Memory and Reflection on Debut Album “Cascade”

About the Artist

Award-winning composer and pianist Alex Solely released his debut studio album, Cascade, on July 20, 2026, through Mascom Records. A Berklee College of Music graduate and Global Music Awards Silver Medal recipient, Solely has developed his own minimalist approach, which he calls “Essential Minimalism.” Built around an intimate dialogue between piano, violin, and cello, the album features collaborations with violinist Artem Len and cellist Zhanel Salamatova. Recorded at Zuh Studio in Kazakhstan before being mixed and mastered at Ocean Sound Recordings in Norway, Cascade explores memory, travel, and quiet reflection through warm, organic neoclassical arrangements.

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The Album

Cascade opens with Morning Thoughts, a brief, gentle solo piano meditation that sounds like you’re sitting beneath a soft waterfall, or just a quiet shower of rain. It gently settles you into the world of the album. Then, Cascade of Nothing, one of the core tracks, blends expressive piano arpeggios with a tender violin melody. It carries a bit more rhythm, and the violin adds more melancholy to it. It sounds like a red dupatta floating into the air before falling dramatically over someone’s crying face. The two instruments almost feel like they’re having a conversation with one another.

Then, Last Night is a poetic, slow-unfolding duet between strings and piano. It sounds like something unforgettable happened last night, but it was the one and only time it could ever happen, and now you just live with the memory of it. Little Bird follows next and is the longest, most narrative composition on the record, moving from a rhythmic, nostalgic pattern into a swelling emotional climax. It sounds like looking back through old film rolls of a life well lived, but one you still miss and grieve. The whole piece carries this emotion of looking back from your present at something you’ll never get back.

The next track, Alone, comes in two versions, one with violin and piano, and another as a solo piano piece. The violin adds heaviness while the piano gently lifts it, like holding its hand instead of carrying it. The solo piano version is softer, like somebody’s palms gently resting against your face before quietly pulling away, leaving you, untouched.

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Fuss somehow sounds exactly like its title. I see myself in this track a little. The piano keys move around in this haphazard urgency that feels completely self-created, like not knowing where to put your hands next. Before long, you realise you’ve started following its rhythm too. Lastly, Parable sounds a little worn out, older somehow, but also wiser. The piano melodies feel richer and deeper here, while the violin and plucked strings make it sound like you’re looking into a deep well at your own reflection. Then a single droplet of water falls from above, breaking the surface, and in that tiny moment, something clicks.

More than anything, Cascade feels like sitting still for the first time all day. That’s the feeling this album carries. Every composition unfolds at its own pace, a different feeling, but together they move like water. Sometimes calm, sometimes heavy, sometimes barely moving at all and somewhere between the piano, the violin and the strings, you end up finding a quiet moment for yourself.