ALEX WELLKERS reach the stars

Reach the Stars,” released on August 22, 2025, through Sidemount Snorkel Team Playtenfirm Records, is not just an album it’s a landscape of emotions etched in sound. Mixed by Stephan Steiner and polished under the deft mastering of Dan Suter, the record bears the weight of collaboration while remaining unmistakably shaped by Alex Wellker’s lyrical sharpness and unyielding voice. With SUISA Switzerland ensuring its protections, the project presents itself as both vulnerable and meticulously structured, as though Wellker has laid out a map of his inner battles for listeners to navigate.

The journey begins with “We Knew It All,” a track that immediately captures the cinematic spirit of the album. Shimmering guitars dance with mournful string arrangements, creating tension that builds like a storm on the horizon. The percussion creeps in with a quiet ferocity, its distant thunder adding heft to the fragile piano motifs weaving through. Wellker’s voice pierces through it all rich, scarred, and commanding turning grief into something tangible, like a scene frozen in time where sorrow refuses to fade.

By the time “Tu es ici” arrives, the soundscape shifts into something darker and more theatrical. A lone flute sets a fragile opening before being swallowed by waves of distorted guitar and relentless drumming. A writhing violin line threads itself through the chaos, twisting like an unsettling memory you can’t quite shake. Amid the noise, the piano becomes the album’s constant a calm voice in a storm of dissonance. Wellker’s delivery here is heavy with fragility, his fractured cadence mirroring the exhaustion of someone trying to breathe while the world closes in.

The closing number, “Now The Pages Been Turned Acoustic,” strips away the noise, leaving nothing but an unvarnished guitar and Wellker’s uncompromising vocal. There’s no hiding here; every breath, every defiant syllable lands with raw immediacy. It’s an intimate finale that embodies the heart of the record unpolished humanity, aching resilience, and the refusal to collapse under weight. “Reach the Stars” is not just listened to; it’s endured, absorbed, and carried with you long after the last note falls silent.

Written by Patrick