Djo
Words by Minty Slater-Mearns, Photograph by Neil Krug
Over the last nine years, Joe Keery has become a face recognisable to most through his role as Steve Harrington on Netflix’s Stranger Things. Or maybe his musical moniker rings a bell from the tons of Instagram carousels and TikTok videos posted to snippets of the song ‘End of Beginning’ in 2024. Either way, the project Keery started with the goal of surprising people is still doing just that over half a decade later.
At its core, The Crux is an album centred around the breakdown of a relationship, but it’s not just that. It also chronicles the panic and confusion that comes when a chapter of your life ends and you aren’t really sure what’s coming next. He’s no longer hiding behind the electronic, synth heavy sound that permeated his previous two albums and instead takes a more stripped back approach that allows the lyricism to shine.
‘Basic Being Basic’ is probably sonically closest to the album’s predecessors. It sees Keery poke fun at the ‘camera eats first’, trend obsessed lifestyles that most of us are guilty of living despite trying to convince ourselves and everybody else that we’re anything but carbon copies of somebody else.
The further into the record you get, the more constant the reminders that this is a breakup record become. ‘Potion’ sees Keery yearn for the kind of relationship where the tender moments are paramount. In contrast, we’ve all had some kind of romantic entanglement we wish we could erase Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind style. The kind where certain songs or certain places drag up unwanted memories no matter how hard you try push it to the back of your mind, it’s always lingering. On ‘Delete Ya’ Keery finds himself in this exact position, having to remind himself to ‘remember to forget’.
‘Egg’ is a definite highlight and might actually be a career best track for Djo, it’s a descent into total chaos as the singer contemplates his self identity, the dilemma of which is emphasised only by Wesley Toledo’s scream (beware headphone users!). You’d perhaps expect the remaining portion of the record to be as erratic but instead it leans into softness and the comfort of familial relationships and just how amazing it is to feel and experience everything life throws at us even if those situations don’t end how we expected.