Reetoxa - Double A Side 2 (Akaroa / Erica And The Stars)

​Reetoxa

Double A Side 2 (Akaroa / Erica And The Stars)
self-released; 2026

By Dan Weston

Reetoxa is the project of Melbourne singer-songwriter Jason Mckee, whose recent work has drawn heavily from experiences that predate the recordings themselves. Earlier this year, the sprawling double album Soliloquy collected material written across different periods of his life. Double A Side 2 (Akaroa / Erica And The Stars) narrows that focus considerably, pairing two songs tied to particularly difficult moments in Mckee’s past. The scale is smaller, but the personnel remains ambitious, with producer Simon Moro working alongside James Ryan, Kit Riley, Peter Marin, Jessica McPherson-Riley, and, on “Erica And The Stars,” the Budapest Orchestra.

That history could easily overwhelm the music. Both songs come with elaborate backstories involving grief, dreams, a mental health crisis, and recovery, but Mckee does not require the listener to know every detail for the songs to make sense. His writing is direct, melodic, and grounded in recognizable rock structures, while the arrangements do much of the emotional work around him. There is something useful about that restraint. The stories may be unusually personal, but the songs themselves remain accessible.

“Akaroa” immediately reminded me of Hum and early Smashing Pumpkins, particularly in the way it uses the soft-loud dynamics associated with much of ’90s alternative rock. The quieter passages create space for Mckee’s vocal before the guitars expand around him, giving the song a familiar push and pull without turning the arrangement into a nostalgia exercise. Its 4/4 structure keeps everything straightforward, and when the track reaches its higher points, the guitar work becomes the main attraction. The solo is particularly strong, adding some technical flash without feeling disconnected from the rest of the song.

“Erica And The Stars” changes the mood considerably. It is closer to an emotive ballad, with a more introspective tone and a broader arrangement. The Budapest Orchestra gives the track additional weight, but the song never becomes completely consumed by its orchestral elements. Mckee keeps the melody and vocal at the center, allowing the arrangement to build around them rather than compete for attention. Considering the circumstances behind its writing, there is also a surprising amount of hope in the finished recording. It acknowledges a period of instability without remaining trapped there.

​Taken together, the two songs show different sides of the same songwriter. “Akaroa” leans into guitar-driven alternative rock, while “Erica And The Stars” gives Mckee more room to work with orchestration and balladry. What connects them is less a specific sound than Mckee’s tendency to take complicated personal history and reduce it to something direct enough to carry a melody.

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