At the beginning of this year, musical artist Djo, also known as Joe Keery, released his third studio album “The Crux”. Since his song “End of Beginning” reached large numbers of success over the past few years, Djo has been touring and releasing new music that has kept fans glued to their seats. At the beginning of September, he began hinting at potential new music by making cryptic posts, hosting silent lives streams and eventually releasing three singles back-to-back over the course of three days before finally announcing the release of “The Crux Deluxe” on Sept. 12.
The deluxe release ended up doubling the length of the original album by adding twelve new tracks making it basically a double album release. The original release was his most unique sounding project and explored many genres and production styles and the deluxe version is no different.
The deluxe half of the album begins with “T. Rex Is Loud” a song whose sound perfectly matches the overall vibe of the initial twelve songs. It combines acoustic sounds with unique vocal layering and builds up to introduce the rest of the album.
Then it transitions into another song with an acoustic atmosphere. “Love Can’t Break The Spell” really lets Djo’s lyricism and vocals shine and be the focus. This isn’t something you hear a whole lot on the original album as the main focus seemed to be unique production choices. Both are great, but it is refreshing to hear something a little different and more stripped down from him.
“Mr. Mountebank” is definitely the most unique track on the entire deluxe album. Featuring heavily edited vocals, the track explores a sound that Djo fans may not have been expecting. His lyricism remains just as strong on this track, but the overall sound may take a little getting used to.
The first single that was released off of the deluxe edition was “Carry The Name.” With a mixture of acoustic and electronic sounds, as well as clear vocals, this track really captured the essence of what was to come with the release of the new edition.
Following the first single release came “It’s Over”, a day later as the second single. This track has the same classic Djo airy sounding atmosphere that his fans have known and grown to love. The album’s overall reflective tone is strong in this one as it builds into a portion featuring audio clips from what sounds like a phone call.
The next track is “Purgatory Silverstar” and follows a sort of storytelling lyricism style as it builds into an intense groovy beat. Eventually, the song comes down and closes out with choral style vocals transitioning into the next song “Who You Are”. This track is a classic piano tune that builds into something a little fuller sounding.
“Grime Of The World” once again has a very light and airy feel to it at the start with a clean electric guitar sound then builds into a heavily rhythmic tune. This transitions seamlessly into “Try Me” which is perhaps the grooviest song on the album. It starts with heavy synth sounds and transitions into a more rhythmic section towards the end.
Nearing the end of the album is “They Don’t Know What’s Right. Continuing the theme of rhythmic songs, this one plays with interesting sounds and unique vocals that eventually transition into a chant-like conclusion.
The second to last song “Thich Nhat Hanh” really lets Djo’s vocals shine as he sings about Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese monk and peace activist, over acoustic guitar filled with reverberant sounds. This song is peaceful and discusses themes of focus and light.
The final song was also the third single. “Awake” perfectly captures the essence of the whole project and also pulls in new sounds representing the overall experimental theme of the album. It builds into a heavy sounding outro which is the perfect closing to a record that is reminiscent of such a wide variety of genres.
Less than a year after its initial release, Djo was able to double the number of songs on his most highly anticipated album. In between that time, he has been touring and promoting his music, gaining even more success and recognition for his music career.
Nora Lee is a Dakota Student Section Editor. She can be reached at [email protected].
