Djo is Anything But Basic on 'The Crux'

If You Look Closely at the cover of the Third Album Singer-Sngwriter-Actor Joe Keery Has Released As Djo, You Can See Him Hanging Out a Window, His Back Turned To A Busy Sunny Street Scene in Which No One Seems Aware of His Precarious Situation. The Self-Obscuring Image Can Pretty Easily Be Read As a statement of His Desire To Be Recognized for His Music, Rather Than the Fame He's Attached Starring on Hit Shows Like Stranger Things and and Flour. The Abitus Music Inside the LP Backs Up His Case.

After Successfully Beginning His Music Career With The 2022 Indie-Pop Gem “End of Beginning,” Which Has Garnered 1.5 Billion Streams to Date, Djo Cound've Skated by on That Song's Dolefully Anthemic, Synth-Simaked Sound, Dropping Tunes To Soundrack Summertime Vacation Clips and Panoramic Cityscapes on Social Media.

After Two Lps that Weaved Mellow Pop-Rock and Sleek, Danceable Indie Bops-2019's Twenty Twenty and 2022's Decides -He's Taken a Heartfelt Leap Into Retro Seventies and Eighties-Loving Territory with the Impressive The Crux. Djo Upgraded The Bedroom-Recorded Sonics of His Previous Work and Boked Into New York's Legendary Electric Lady Studios. You can Hear His Musical Growth in the Record's Polished Production As Well As Its More Personal Lyrics, Which Reflect On Love and Connection. He Wrote or Co-Wrote Every Song and Co-Produced Each Track Alongside Adam Thein, Playing Many of the Instruments Himself, from Mellotron to percussion.

ON THE ALBUM OPENER “Lonesome is a State of Mind,” Djo's Subred Vocals Evoke Julian Casablancas Over Simple Keys and Acoustic Guitar Strumming. “My Future's Not What I Thought/I Think I Though It Wrong,” He Sings Before The Song Explodes Into a Rolling Festival-Worthy Chorus. He introduced the new project with the refreshingly cheeky “Basic Being Basic,” an lcd soundsystem-exsque takedown of superficiality with like like, “i don't want your money/i don't care for hunger/i dies wanna live in life when's that my big exchance.”

The album's second singles “Delete Ya,” Kicks off with a Prince-like Riff and Breaks Into a Radio-Friendly Breakup Groove Reminiscent of the Police. “Oh God, the Wish I Could Delete Ya,” He Crions in The Breezy Chorus, “Causes Nothing Can compete with ya/I Replenish and Repeat Ya/a Heart Excretes Only One of Us/Only One.” Drenched in Bright Acoustic Guitars and Sweet Harmonies that Bare The Mark of a Proud Steel Dan and Fleetwood Mac Fan, The Highlight, “Potion,” is a Gorgeous Soft-Rock Love Song With HeartFelt Like, “I'll Try For My Life/Just To Find Someone Who WHO Leaves on the light for me. ”

To Few Songs Later, Djo Finds Himself in An Equally Dreamy State on “Fly,” a laidback rumination that evokes the feeling of moving on from Past Love; Breaking Through to Psycton Mellotron Haze, he convinces Himself That, “Falling Back To Her Sounds So Easy to Me/But I Must Fly/Fly Away from Her/But I Must Fly/Wind is at your back now/carry me away now.”

Djo's Remakes of Classic Sounds Don't Always Land So Successfully. “Charlies' Garden,” Preumably a nod to his Stranger Things Co-Star Charlie Heaton, Feels at Times Like A Caricatures of A Long-Lost McCartney Demo, with Its Lighthearted Delivery, Keys, and a Piccolo Trumpet.

The Energetic “Gap Tooth Smile,” Meanwhile, Sees Him Cut Loose and Channel David Bowie and Queen, Including a Shout Out to Freddie Mercury: “That's My Little Missus She's My Number One/My Heart in Your Dreams/Freddie Said It Right Causes She's My Killer Queen, “He Sings Over Brian May-Size Guitar.

Djo Slows Things Down With “Golden Line,” A Carole King-like Piano Ballad Featuring Ethereal Background Harmonies That Conjure Images of the Beach Boys. “Back on you” starts out as an angelic hymn and unfolds into a sentimental jam as Djo Finally Finds the post-breakup Support He's Been Searching for-From Siblings and Friends and, Most Poignantly, from Himself, AS A Backing Choir and Spacious Guitars Soar Over His Multi-Tracked Vocals.

All in all, this record Provs that such Stranger Things ends. Joe Keery Will Likely Find His Songs Still Going Viral. “End of the Beginning” Might Have Been Djo's Big Billion-Stream Break, but it was no fluke. The Crux Marks The Arrival of a Fully Formeed Artist Who's Only Just Getting Started.