Some albums take years. “SOLILOQUY” took decades. Melbourne’s ReeToxA – fronted by Jason McKee, who has been sitting on this concept since 1997 – finally released the double album on March 22nd through their own ReeToxA Records. The pandemic killed the original plan to record their debut, so Jason spent Melbourne’s long lockdowns going through a lifetime of songwriting on a diet of cigarettes and coffee, eventually ending up in hospital for six weeks. What came out the other side is a 26-song double album produced and mastered by Simon Moro, featuring a Budapest orchestra on six tracks, and a band lineup that includes Kit Riley (Robbie Williams, Savage Garden), Peter Marin (Jet), James Ryan (Men at Work), Jessica McPherson-Riley on backing vocals, and Terry Hart on piano. It’s a lot, and it’s meant to be.
ReeToxA are redefining their sound with “SOLILOQUY”. Right off the bat, it sets itself apart from the Pine Salads era, with “ReeToxA” and “INSATIABLE” leading the charge into a much groovier rock sound, especially on the latter. The second half of “INSATIABLE” is so addictive, and the breakdown is executed with such power and rock grit that I listened to the song five times on repeat and proceeded to jam along to it with my guitar. But the grit doesn’t last the whole time, as expected with a double album meant to be listened to in its entirety as one continuous experience – the pacing can be judged almost like a movie or screenplay. We get a moment of relief with the deliciously melodic “AKAROA,” a classic ballad with all the elements that make a ReeToxA ballad great: chimey acoustic guitar, Jason’s warm vocals, and a melodic guitar solo to close it out.
“TRUCE” is a surprising song that closes the first third of the album. Tonally, it’s very different from anything else in their catalog, with the chorus featuring some uniquely dark harmonic movements and fresh synth textures supporting the main rhythm guitar that I haven’t really heard on a song of theirs before. It has that bigger-than-life quality with how intense the wall of sound accompanying the vocals in the chorus is. That’s immediately contrasted by folk ballad “JOSEPHINE” – it has to be intentional to put those two songs right next to each other. With its twinkling mandolin sounds, it’s the brightest song on the album so far.
“DEMAND PERFECTION” is another pleasant surprise. Its showtune elements are clearly inspired by big band jazz and funk, where the entire band does rhythmic stops for emphasis and to draw the listener into the song’s tagline. It’s then contrasted by a quiet ballad with a heartbreaking orchestra performance in “ERICA AND THE STARS.” The production here is very 2010s cinema, especially those ear candy arpeggiators in the background that help fill out the space.
“DRESS ME UP” is what I’d call a lean cut – no fat to trim, every element there for a reason, working perfectly in a tightly synchronized performance. Every melody flows into the next in perfect harmony, and that 80s-style melodic hook is supremely addictive. The song oozes brightness from the harmonic choices to the synths that complement it from a production standpoint.
The album ends with two anthemic ballads back to back: “STRONG” and “ALRIGHT.” In the former, ReeToxA nails the arena rock sound with great dynamic changes – from a delicate intro to a huge chorus with backup vocals that perfectly complement the emotional core of the song, the subtext of humans being stronger together. In the latter, it’s a more somber road trip ballad, like saying goodbye, which is fitting for the final track on such a colorful album.
What makes “SOLILOQUY” a genuine achievement isn’t just the scale of it – 26 songs, a Budapest orchestra, decades of songwriting finally committed to tape – it’s that ReeToxA pulled it off without the infrastructure that usually supports a project this ambitious. ReeToxA Records, their own imprint, bankrolled and released the whole thing independently. The range on display across these tracks, from the arena rock of “STRONG” to the folk lightness of “JOSEPHINE” to the cinematic sweep of “ERICA AND THE STARS,” is exactly what you’d expect from an artist who spent 30 years accumulating material and then had nothing left to do during a pandemic but finally shape it all into something. It shows.