Review Summary: Djo delivers and album that brings back the freshness and novelty that the genre used to invoke.
Neo-psychedelic music is one of my favorite genres. However, with time it seemed to me that all of the albums and songs within this genre started sounding the same, just bland with repetitive resources including the fuzzy guitars, echoed vocals and flanged drum fills.
Post Animal was at the time one of my cool discoveries, I still enjoy their music from time to time, they're brilliant musicians and they really get me going with their music, I can bang my head, feel nostalgic and enjoy the musicality at the same time. However, I was skeptic when Joe Keery announced he was leaving the band, a talented guitarist, an acceptable vocalist and a...okay actor. I lost his trace, I had stopped listening to Post Animal and Stranger Things I honestly couldn't care less about it. Until one day, I was minding my own business listening to my Discover Weekly playlist on spotify when I heard something that sounded very familiar. I approached my notebook, clicked on spotify and checked the artist. It read Djo. 'What the hell is a Djo?' Normally I wouldn't even bother, I'd just save the song and that's it, but this one sounded so familiar and nice (Personal Lies was playing). Shock could be deduced from my facial expression as I read google's answer to my query: Who the f*** is Djo? ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ? Yes. Joe Keery was Djo, and had released Twenty-Twenty under a pseudonym....also some thrift shop sunglasses and a pizza scented moustache which came off as ***ing creepy.
We're introduced to this spacey experience with 'Showtime', an intro worthy of a Mac Demarco debut album, from here on out one could assume that this is actually a collab. It's not. 'Personal Lies' is up next. A really laidback, groovy riff introduces the song, and a distant cowbell sets the mood for a head banger, we're off to a good start. We are then presented with 3 slow, droopy and floaty ballads. 'Tentpole Shangrila' sounds like a Connan Mockasin lisergic ballad with a twist, a heavy section with a high pitched synth opens the door some more and invites you inside Joe's mind. 'Just Along for the Ride' is the stoner ballad. It feels like coming down from a really gloomy high, but then again we can clearly hear Soft Hair winks here and there, but somehow Joe owns it and elevates it to a whole new level. The last song from the Gloomy Trident (yes, it's a thing) 'Chateau (Feel Alright)' is nostalgic, romantic and slow paced. It's a great mood for a rainy look-out-the-window sesh. I really have to give it to Keery, his vocal range suits this song perfectly and the mood he creates, he just knows how to nail it. I guess he is not just an 'okay' actor...I mean musician. 'Roddy' is definitely the radio edit of this album, it's quirky and you can really stoner-dance to this one. A solid drum beat accompanies the Demarco labeled riff and it really kicks it up a notch with the 70's synth ambiance. Let's just not get into the whole outro thing, the 'I said Amen' section is off-putting and quite frankly it makes me feel icky. After this radio hit we find the 'Ring' which truly shows the essence of this alter ego Keery is going for. It feels daring, it's solid and very fun to listen to. It has a really cool heavy-rock section with a fuzzy solo followed by a breakdown close to the end, and the phrase 'Slowly shrink away' leaves us floating within a cute synth melody. 'BNBG' introduces the new slow section of the album and at this point it begins to drag a little bit in my opinion, it's a nice ballad but it feels as though Joe had to fill in the gaps. I mean it's a cool tune and Keery's vocals really carry the melody, also the synth section is very well designed. I swear 'Mortal Projections' intro came straight outta Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino's repertoire, with a noire feel to it and a heart-break mood. 'Total Control' is like when you're shopping for perfumes and they bring you this cup with coffee beans to cleanse your ๐ด๐ฏ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ. It's a cool interlude, very lo-fi-like and it really helps to introduce the last section of this album. Wait a minute! I was promised Post Animal references in the trailer! Where the hell are they?! Well, you're in for a treat....or a slap to the face actually. 'Flash Mountain' is exactly that. It's energic and it picks up the drag to deliver a powerful, heavy-psychedelic riff with a lot of cool sections for the enthusiast head banger to knock himself out (literally). In my opinion the highlight of the album and a pleasant surprise when I first listened to it. Finally, song number 12 or 'Mutual Future (Repeat)' seals the deal with a light-hearted love song. And suddenly it also feels familiar, wait...I've heard this chord progression before... Oh, right! This is a cyclical album, you can pick up from where you last left off. I think that's brilliant.
Overall I'm just impressed. Djo delivers and album that brings back the freshness and novelty that the genre used to invoke. Joe Keery proves to be up to the circumstances, he delivers quality material, which is very odd coming from someone who's also an actor if you think about it. I was pleasantly surprised with Twenty-Twenty and I must admit that even coming back to it several times, I can still enjoy every part of it, even with its imperfections. And that's okay.
