If grunge had a baby with Aussie pub rock and raised it on poetic angst and punchy one-liners, you’d get “Pines Salad”. ReeToxA—Melbourne’s own Jason McKee—serves up 14 tracks of raw honesty, emotional sucker punches, and riffs that haunt your head. This debut album is 30 years in the making, and it shows. It’s tight without being overcooked, personal without being self-indulgent, and has that magical “found in a shoebox under the bed” vibe of long-lost ‘90s cassette demos—except now it’s been blessed by some of Australia’s finest musicians and producer Simon Moro’s magic touch.
Opener “Alcohol” sets the mood like a cigarette burning slow in the rain, guitar lines buzz with repressed tension while McKee’s voice grits through the gloom. There’s bitterness in the bones of this track. Then there’s “HMAS Cerberus”, which cruises on a grinding rhythm and a narrative tone that pulls you into McKee’s world like a late-night bar story you didn’t expect to feel so deeply. And of course, how could anyone overlook “Papa Loves Ladyboys”? What starts as a tender, shimmering guitar line blooms into a melodic moment.
The spirit of Nirvana and Pearl Jam lingers here, but so does the emotional clarity of Elliott Smith and the sly hooks of Olivia Rodrigo. It’s a beautiful mess: moody, melodic, a little sarcastic, and completely unfiltered.
Pines Salad is a gritty scrapbook of a life lived loud. Check out the rest of the tracks on Spotify if you like what you hear.
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Review by: Naomi Joan
1 comment
Thank you so much Naomi !