Some albums are carefully planned career moves. Others arrive like emotional avalanches. Reetoxa’s Soliloquy firmly belongs to the second category. Written across decades, interrupted by life, lockdowns, and personal breakdowns, the sprawling double album feels like Jason McKee emptying years of unfinished thoughts onto tape. And nestled inside this ambitious, emotionally overloaded project is “The Lisa Song.”
McKee’s journey with Soliloquy has been anything but straightforward. The project first began back in 1997 when, at just 17, he adopted the name “Soliloquy” after being inspired by Shakespeare discussions in English class. Life, naturally, had other ideas, and the album sat dormant for years. But fate eventually nudged it back into motion after McKee met a girl named Lisa at a Forum Melbourne show during a Spiderbait gig. Embarrassed that he had nothing but rough voice notes to share, he scrapped his university music degree plans and committed fully to the band instead. Talk about jumping in at the deep end.
“The Lisa Song” captures that spark beautifully. The track opens with thumping beats and playful piano melodies that instantly give it an easy-going, almost cinematic charm. Then McKee’s husky voice slides into the mix, sounding charismatic, slightly weathered, and genuinely smitten as he sings about meeting a shy girl who “looked like the sun.” There’s an old-school storytelling warmth to the lyrics that gets you going “aww.”
And honestly, the hook sticks like glue. When he repeats, “She danced, she danced, she danced so beautifully,” the song lifts into something tender and bittersweet at once.
Behind the scenes, Soliloquy itself sounds like it nearly consumed its creator. Pandemic lockdowns in Melbourne pushed McKee deeper into writing mode, spiraling through sleepless nights, cigarettes, coffee, and relentless self-examination until the process eventually landed him in hospital for six weeks. You can hear that intensity lingering around the edges of the music.
Still, “The Lisa Song” offers a brief flash of sunlight in the daze that recalls the people who unknowingly change the course of our lives.
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Review by: Naomi Joan