It’s Hard Not To Get Lost In Reetoxa’s “Double A Side 2 (Akaroa / Erica And The Stars)”

Once in a while, there are records you stumble upon that let you be a little weird, a little hopeful, and a little less afraid of not having everything figured out. Today, it’s Reetoxa’s latest EP, Double A Side 2 (Akaroa / Erica And The Stars).

Melbourne’s Reetoxa is fronted by Jason McKee, who spent 30 years writing songs before finally putting them out into the world. Meeting producer Simon Moro eventually gave those songs somewhere to go, which led to their latest four-track EP.

Akaroa starts with soft, almost sentimental guitars that promise a straightforward, tender song, almost assuring you that you might just spend the next few minutes thinking about an old love or some memory you thought you had already outgrown. And then the vocals enter with a question, “Who’s this girl staring back at me?” For a moment, it feels like you’re stuck in that strange, little space between noticing and wanting to know them.

And that uncertainty is so fitting considering where Akaroa came from. After a vivid spiritual dream during one of McKee’s difficult periods, he eventually found himself in a New Zealand town with the same name, somehow bringing back this unfinished song years later.

Erica And The Stars open with the same tenderness, but hold much more weight beneath it. The track opens with the line, “I’m not going to fall. I’m going to float,” and it sounds like someone choosing their own way of surviving when staying grounded has become too difficult. There’s this childlike quality to the imagery, but it’s placed in a way that makes it oddly believable. Like yes, my spaceship awaits, and apparently there’s an important mission going down.

Just when you think it’s over, Reetoxa gives you karaoke versions for these two tracks, because apparently, you can’t just listen to these songs. You can try singing them, too. It’s not the type of EP that will give you grand, complex imagery, yet somehow, its simplicity makes everything feel more sincere. McKee’s songwriting is the kind that seeps into your bones before you even remember that the stories he’s telling aren’t yours to begin with. There’s uncertainty, vulnerability, and the quiet need to believe that things will be eventually okay. The best part? He’s not spelling it out for you. It just exists, hoping you’d finally get comfort from it without any neat, polished explanations.

And perhaps that’s what makes Double A Side 2 so easy to connect with. You don’t need to live the same, exact stories Reetoxa is telling. You just have to let yourself get lost in them for a while, and maybe you’ll come out seeing your own world a little differently.