Editors note: Information about the cost to attend the release party has been updated. The event is free.

It's only goodbye.

After three-plus decades of vibrant, high-octane and always joyous rock 'n' roll, The Reducers - a much-loved band comprising Hugh Birdsall, Tom Trombley, Steve Kaika and Peter Detmold that New London was proud to share with the world - are no more.

Officially, of course, The Reducers ceased to exist in June 2012, when bassist/vocalist Kaika died of lung cancer. Sharing a bond that perhaps only musketeers could appreciate, there was never any chance The Reducers would carry on without Kaika - or without any of them. It was that kind of allegiance.

However, there is a just-out album called "Last Tracks & Lost Songs" - a 14-track retrospective comprising the six brand-new tunes the band was recording when Kaika fell ill, along with never-before-released studio and live rarities dating back 25 years.

And with that, there truly is no unfinished business left.

A CD release party for "Last Tracks & Lost Songs" takes place Saturday in the Hygienic Art Galleries. Admission is $10 and includes a copy of the album. "Last Tracks & Lost Songs" will be also be available Friday at Telegraph Records in New London and Mystic Disc in Mystic.

At the release soiree, while the album airs in the street-level space, a video capturing live performances at the Shelter Club in Tokyo from the band's 2004 tour of Japan, will loop continually in the downstairs gallery.

All three surviving musicians will be at the release party along with the band's longtime producer Richard Brukner, who was at the helm for the new album.

"It's as if we're closing the book," guitarist/vocalist Detmold says. "It was a long book and it was a good book. It's bittersweet but it's also rewarding to hear the consistency of the songs." He laughs. "I think we were a bit surprised at how musically adventurous some of the older material is. It's like we stretched a bit and then said, 'Okay, we did that and we don't have to do it anymore.'"

Detmold's comments are revealing because one of the wonderful things about "LT&LS" is how, even with growth and inevitable evolution of a 40-year-old band, the connective musical DNA is so sparklingly absolute. If some of the material exhibits the coltish tendencies of a younger group exploring range and technique, other tunes reflect a streamlined efficiency that betokens confidence, experience and an awareness of craft. But it all sounds like The Reducers.

Detmold says there was never any question the band and Brukner would finish the six in-progress tunes even though Kaika passed. And, he says, they were more than happily surprised, when rummaging through various recorded and archival snippets, to discover plenty of other quality material to flesh out what would become the new album.

"I'm proud and somewhat relieved!" Brukner says. "It never occurred to me that these recording sessions were going to be the last sessions, but fate intervened. Once I got the courage to step back and listen to the unreleased sessions, I got the feeling that we could put together something special, something that would serve as more than a grace note to the band's catalog. There are important, essential Reducers songs on this CD that deserve to be out in the world, so I'm grateful that I had a hand in making that happen."

Guitarist/vocalist Birdsall adds, "To be honest, I've been listening to the tracks over and over again as they evolved over the past three years - from raw tracks to rough mixes to final mixes and mastered tracks - to the point where I couldn't even hear the songs anymore. (But) when Peter handed me the final package, and I put it in the player, somehow magically I could hear the music again. What a great feeling!"

The surviving band members have been creating a new persona in a trio guise called The 3-Pack, which drummer/vocalist Trombley, Detmold and Birdsall all agree provides a much-needed musical outlet. It's also something they're sure Kaika would be proud of - as he would "Last Tracks & Lost Tunes."

"I'm very sad that Steve's not here in person to enjoy the fruits of our collective labor, but I feel his spirit so vividly when I listen to the CD," Birdsall says. "For me, his beautiful playing and his hand in the arrangements of songs are manifestations of his continued presence in my life. And I am so grateful for that."

The Reducers CD Release Party, 8-10 p.m. Saturday, Hygienic Art Galleries, 79 Bank St., New London; free, CDs available for $10; (860) 443-8001.