The Crux

Let’s just be honest: Djo picked the worst possible singles to tease this thing. “Basic Being Basic” and “Delete Ya” made me think we were getting a half-baked playlist of indie algorithm bait. I was this close to skipping the album entirely. But I’m glad I didn’t, because The Crux is actually fire.

It’s been a few years since DECIDE, that synth-drenched, mind-melty record that landed somewhere between Daft Punk and a Mac DeMarco fever dream. That project had a vibe. But The Crux feels like Joe Keery (yes, Steve from Stranger Things, but let’s move past that) trying to shake the typical Djo sound and draw something way looser and weirder. It’s less polished than DECIDE, more sprawling, but also way more unpredictable—in a good way.

Djo still wears his influences on his sleeve, sure, but the copy-and-paste energy has shifted into something more playful. Twenty Twenty was basically Tame Impala cosplay. DECIDE mixed in Talking Heads and early-2000s French electro. This time around? He’s doing Beatles harmonies, a bit of post-2010 Strokes swagger, and even some Declan McKenna-esque theatrical pop.

You’ve got songs like “Fly” and “Back On You”, which are lowkey gorgeous. They’re slow burns, but they earn every second. You can tell Joe’s not just throwing vibes at the wall—he knows how to write a song, and he’s clearly thinking about arrangement, pacing, structure.

And then there’s “Gap Tooth Smile”, which is probably the album’s stickiest track—a dense, weird little rock song that somehow feels sweet and crunchy at the same time. Even the tracks that don’t reinvent anything are just solid. They're good. Sometimes that's enough.

Now, yeah, the singles still feel like weird picks. “Potion” doesn’t do much for me either. But the second half of this project makes up for it tenfold. The sequencing, the production, the little vocal character flips—it’s chaotic in a charming way. Joe might not be totally sure what kind of artist he wants to be, but he’s having a great time figuring it out, and we get to ride shotgun.

Anyway, The Crux might not be perfect, but it’s ambitious, messy, and full of heart—and in a summer full of same-sounding drops, that’s more than enough to keep it in rotation.

DJO - THE CRUX
RATING - 8.2/10

FAVORITE TRACK - Gap Tooth Smile

GENRE - Alt/Indie