Djo: The Crux album review — Stranger Things’ Joe Keery exuberantly embraces life as an actor-singer

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Actors and singers are close relations. As with their siblings on stage and screen, the vocalist’s role involves words, intonation and characterisation. In the past, they joined the same trade associations as actors. It was not until 1967 that the Musicians’ Union began admitting British singers as a matter of course.

It should not therefore be surprising that so many actors want to be singers and vice versa. But an odd note of mockery attends one side of the equation. In the words of Don Johnson, speaking after releasing his album Heartbeat in 1986, the move from singing to acting is treated as a “natural evolutionary course, but the other way around seems to be a big taboo.” The Los Angeles Times greeted the Miami Vice star’s foray into polished 1980s rock with a don’t-scare-the-horses headline: “Don Johnson: Yes, He Can Really Sing.”

This tradition of scepticism explains why the singer-songwriter Djo used to disguise himself at gigs in a shaggy wig and sunglasses. He did not want audiences to see him for who he really is: the actor Joe Keery, famous for the hit Netflix series Stranger Things. But the word is out following the TikTok-fuelled success of last year’s single “End of Beginning”. Keery, aka Djo, has now ditched the costume and embraced hyphenated life as an actor-singer.

His musical career runs parallel with his acting. He used to be in the Chicago band Post Animal, whose debut EP came out in 2015, the same year Keery was cast in Stranger Things. His first album as Djo, 2019’s Twenty Twenty, was hazy psych-rock in a Tame Impala vein. His third solo outing The Crux has a brighter, more melodic feel.

“Link” is exuberant power pop about a high-achieving high school graduate suffering an existential crisis at the prospect of tedious adult life. “Delete Ya” is delightfully feathery 1980s pop-rock about a protagonist who cannot get over a break-up. Its catchiness illustrates his inability to stop thinking about her. Meanwhile, the music gives his woes a wittily stylised quality.

The songs are light on their feet. They skip across previous eras of music, including The Beatles and west coast psychedelia, without turning into costume drama. Kerry’s vocals go from mellow murmurs to a more declamatory mode. Yes, he can really sing. His songwriting hits the mark too.

★★★★☆

‘The Crux’ is released by AWAL