DJO Gets Ambitious On New Album ‘The Crux’

At a moment in time where artists desperately hope for a “viral moment,” often being pushed to release the same TikTok-formulated songs over and over again, Joe Keery was in a way doing the opposite. Under the moniker DJO, Keery’s plan was to remain as anonymous and low-profile as possible, a pretty much impossible task when you’re a main character in one of the biggest TV shows to ever exist. But when you happen to be as outstandingly talented as a musician as you are as an actor, you might simply blow up regardless of your lack of trying.

Following the Tiktokfication of “End of Beginning,” a love letter to Chicago and his college years, DJO did anything but crumble under the weight of the expectations that came with going viral, and spent the next two years creating an incredible, ambitious and remarkable third album. The Crux is an ideal combination of impressive musical arrangements and sometimes funny but thought-provoking lyrics, exploring themes of self-doubt, friendship, heartbreak, and yearning.

The 12-track record is a journey through different decades, a collection of retro sounds and instrumentals, jumping through genres even within singular songs. A lot of it still evokes the personal style that DJO had begun creating in Twenty-Twenty (2019) and DECIDE (2022), and even in his time with his Chicago post-rock band Post Animal, but this time there is noticeably a more liberated approach on how experimental he is willing to get.

The Crux begins with a song that immediately reveals the range of exploration Keery is taking; in “Lonesome Is A State Of Mind” gameboy-inspired synths are paired with acoustic and electric guitars, while melodically the song is a rollercoaster, taking unexpected turns line after line. It feels like multiple songs in one, but it still creates a cohesive story, something that “Fly” and “Back On You” also manage to do. One of the main topics in the album seems to be a sense of existential crisis that comes with getting older, which is promptly acknowledged with the lyric “twenty-nine and misaligned, but now I need to take my time” in its opening track, a concept that is then subsequently consoled by the idea of learning to be okay with being who you are: “you’re not lonely when you’re hanging with yourself”.

On the other hand, throughout the entire record there is a recurring feeling of homage to older music, which strongly reveals itself on “Link,” a song that perfectly balances old and new influences that might have left a stamp on Keery. In a way, it brings to mind 80’s rock songs like Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” and even Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ‘69”, with its up-beat tempo, stacked guitars and melodies. But there are traces of some more contemporary bands as well, like Jimmy Eat World and even sister rock-band HAIM, bands that naturally also must have gathered influence from older rock musicians. Later in the record, “Gap Tooth Smile” similarly feels like a David Bowie song, which thinking of today’s indie scene reminds me of Declan McKenna and his distorted guitars and poppy synths. This idea of a tribute to music through the ages becomes even more evident when in this song Keery directly mentions Freddie Mercury: “Freddie said it right, ’cause she’s my killer queen”.

There is a romantic element to DJO that comes most alive in “Potion” and “Golden Line”. The first brings an absolutely different vibe from the first two tracks in the record, both sonically and lyrically, once again expanding the territory explored in the album. In it Joe longs for tender love, for romance in the mundane, conjuring a strong Beatles influence with its soft vocals and uplifting chord progressions. However, the track is directly followed by “Delete Ya,” another love song but this time one that deals with the aftermath of a failed relationship instead. It transmits a deep feeling of longing again, but in this case for a time where Joe hadn’t even met this person, let alone fallen in love with them. On the first verse Keery sings “then there’s a lyric that, in context, stings, the immediate pain it brings,” something that squarely and painfully fits for the song itself.

The next stop in the trip that is The Crux, is an off-putting, almost eerie track titled “Egg”. Singing of an almost out of body experience, Keery seems to realize that he is a human being that exists and other people are also human beings that exist. “Can one be great? Can one be kind? When history shows they’re not intertwined” and “every single step that you take is just another one back, another step to take back, another regret” are just some of the hopeless thoughts running through the singer’s mind. In a way, it’s one of the most devastating songs in the album, assuming that it came from a place of feeling utterly lost, but at the same time is so on the nose that it kind of sounds like Keery already cracked the code and is no longer crushed by the overwhelming weight of existence and can see through the insignificance of it all.

Earlier in the album there is an initial reference to Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery’s co-star and close friend, in the lyric “Team up with Charlie, take these kids for a ride,” from “Delete Ya,” a pretty direct nod at their work in Netflix’s Stranger Things. But Charlie’s protagonism in The Crux is even bigger, having a whole song written about him as well as a spoken interlude. “Charlie’s Garden” is a sweet rendition about friendship and how easy it is to ignore the tumultuousness of the world by spending time with them. Even being the eighth track on the album, it still succeeds to somehow take another spin at an audibly new style, which just speaks volumes of Joe’s talent and immense artistry.

A seamless ending to The Crux begins with “Back On You”, one of my favorite songs in the album. Joe takes a moment to thank his sisters, his friends, and anyone who has had his back in the past. The importance of his loved ones in his life is flawlessly demonstrated by a tiny detail in the song, where Keery says “hit it, Wes”, referring to Wesley Toledo, Joe’s long time friend and drummer of his formed band Post Animal, which they started together back in 2015 right before Joe Keery landed the role of Steve Harrington. Wesley plays drums in several of DJO’s songs, and Post Animal is joining him as the supporting act for his 2025 tour, proof of how close to his heart Joe keeps those that were in his life before his life changed forever. I like to believe that this shows that he is still very similar to the person he was before the Stranger Things fame, something that not everyone is able to do.

One of the record’s highlights is, naturally, still its first single, “Basic Being Basic,” a track that in a sort of satirical way encapsulates Joe Keery’s understanding of being original. Actively fighting to not be perceived as “basic” or “like everybody else” has become an aesthetic of its own, inevitably turning into a defined style that prevents people from truly being different. This desperate (and failed) attempt at nonchalance has become a defining trait of our generation, as we seem to be less self-aware and more aware of what other people will assume of us. Looking at The Crux as a whole, I think DJO is undeniably trying and trying hard, but that’s a good thing. 

It seems to me that Joe Keery is purposefully and wholeheartedly making the best music he can make, exploring the space, taking inspiration from different places, and showing that he cares deeply about the art. You know Timotheé Chalamet’s Golden Globes speech where he talks about pursuing greatness? And how he knows that wanting to be great and caring about your work is for some inexplicable reason seen as uncool? Well, I think it’s actually cool as hell, and I think Joe Keery’s impeccable effort displayed in The Crux is admirable, appropriate, and exactly what makes this album a great one.

The Crux is out now.