Djo -the musical project of actor / producer / and BRIT Award-nominated songwriter Joe Keery of ‘Stranger Things and ‘Fargo‘ announces his highly anticipated new album The Crux, the follow-up to his 2022 album DECIDE, which featured the multi-platinum hit ‘End of Beginning.’ The Crux will be released on April 4th on AWAL.
Today, he has released the first single ‘Basic Being Basic‘ which he will debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on January 28th where he’ll also be a couch guest.
On the album, Djo sets about celebrating and recognising the importance of nurturing community. He tells his stories through a cast of characters and transient guests at ‘The Crux’ Hotel, each at a crossroads in their lives. The new single is one of the more musically upbeat songs on the record, and sees him lamenting the time we lose trying to present ourselves in a certain way.
With its retro, space-age synths, the stylish, slanted spoken word lyrics, juxtapose the high-energy falsetto refrains which fizz and dance over buoyant electric keys and bouncing asyndetic staccato lyrics. It’s witty, cathartic, smart and infectious, like The Scissor Sisters crossed with Peter Gabriel. It’s bound to be the soundtrack of 2025. “It’s kind of a shot fired to anyone who’s trying to be of the moment,” says Keery.
After being nominated for a BRIT Award for best International Song this week, he has also announced a major 2025 global tour. The. Djo – Back On You Tour will feature Post Animal as support on all North American, UK and EU tour dates.
In addition to his previously announced appearance on Australia and New Zealand’s Laneway Festival in February, he’ll embark on a North American, UK and European tour throughout the year. See dates below.
The North American dates kick off in Portland, OR at Revolution Hall in April and conclude with a two-night stint at Brooklyn Steel in New York City in May. He’ll begin the UK and European dates in Dublin, Ireland on June 1st. Highlights include appearances at Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, Best Kept Secret Festival, Hurricane Festival and Southside Festival with more dates to be announced soon.
Tickets for the North American, UK and EU tour dates go on sale next Friday, January 31st at 9AM local time with the artist pre-sale beginning Tuesday, January 28th at 9AM local.
Djo had a massive 2024 with his song ‘End of Beginning’ taking off worldwide, where after climbing to #1 on the Global Spotify chart it was the #6 most streamed song in the world in 2024 with 1.5 BILLION streams and over 60 BILLION TikTok views.
Upcoming album, The Crux was co-produced by Keery and his long-time collaborator Adam Thein. It’s an album of impeccable craftsmanship. Unlike Keery’s previous albums, The Crux spotlights lush guitars and instrumentation reminiscent of late 60’s and 70’s pop. It’s an album full of loss and yearning, but also one full of wit and gratitude.
What begins as a meditation on the dissolution of a relationship winds its way back to self-resilience, and a celebration and recognition of the importance of nurturing community. . Although the songs are rich with specificity, the album plays like a movie soundtrack, where the listener can easily align with a character, situation, or emotion. Keery frames the album’s concept through its art – a collaboration with Neil Krug – as a hotel where all of its guests are transient, and at a spiritual or emotional crossroads.
Though most widely known for his acting roles, Keery has long been an interdisciplinary power-house, and began making music as a teenager. He later joined the psych-rock band Post Animal while in Chicago. In 2019 he released his first album, Twenty Twenty under the moniker Djo. In 2022, his remarkable sophomore album DECIDE was released via AWAL to critical acclaim, performances at major U.S. festivals like Lollapalooza, and unparalleled global success on DSPs.
Fans can pre-order The Crux now HERE.
The Crux will be released on April 4th on AWAL. See tour dates below and link for more details: Tour Dates — Djo
Tickets for the North American, UK and EU tour dates go on sale next Friday, January 31st at 9AM local time with the artist pre-sale beginning Tuesday, January 28th at 9AM local.
Djo | Photo credit: Neil Krug
