Sometimes, Endings Sound Like Reetoxa’s “Love Keeps Burning Still”

Imagine grief when it doesn’t come off like a movie that made you cry like a bucket or a devastating video that lingered like smoke in your room. What you’ll get from Reetoxa’s Love Keeps Burning Still is grief settling in the most tender, softest way possible.

Reetoxa is a Melbourne band fronted by Jason McKee. After their first venture into political songwriting, they’re now back with Love Keeps Burning Still, an emotional centerpiece at the heart of their rock-heavy double album.

The track begins with delicate keys, accompanied by reflective vocals that earn your attention note by note. From the opening line itself, you’ll immediately realize you’re about to hear something deep and personal. Because McKee drops the line, “tell me all about it, can your heart beat still?” without sounding performed—just a fragile question from a person who is still searching for meaning in what’s left.

You’ll definitely love its consistency from start to finish. The emotion deepens as the song goes without ever losing itself in it. It indeed feels like a song you’ll hear from a Hollywood romance film where love is either lost or quietly remembered without ever fading completely.

But what’s even more impressive is the fact that much of the orchestral work was coordinated remotely with a European orchestra during the pandemic. For an independent artist, it’s like a creative gamble that could have easily fallen apart. But it never did, hence, a song that feels whole, unguarded, and bigger than its circumstances.

And perhaps that’s why the song lingers. Because it was crafted with a kind of vulnerability that only comes from the experience of an artist himself.