Djo's “Basic Being Basic” and the flawed Actor to Musician Pipeline
Graphic by Kristen Lee
by salem ross
Indie rock from 2016 to 2019 was an open market. Anyone with a rasp and past relationship could be the next Mac DeMarco right from their bedroom. In tandem with this surplus of tuned-up guitars and drum kits, Calpurnia came out with their first EP, Scout, in 2018. Although I could appreciate its noise (and Finn Wolfhard’s vocals), something about the band's typical indie storyline about being a loser in love didn’t really appeal to me. I’d heard it all before. Plenty of actors and actresses have tried going the music route: Nicholas Braun with “Broken Halo”, Jeremy Renner with “Main Attraction”. Although their acting backgrounds give them a sure shot of some traction, nothing quite sticks. To quote Timothée Chalamet’s Nardwar Interview, “Maybe one day I’ll be one of those vein actors who puts out a very self indulgent album that those around him says is decent and then gets shredded online,” and “Basic Being Basic” is anything but that.
When Joe Keery started releasing music under the alias Djo, I was a bit skeptical. Having witnessed so many actors trip and stumble over prewritten lyrics and rented bands, I almost didn’t want to look. All it took was his freshman track “Along For The Ride,” off his first album Twenty Twenty. Although the three minute and twenty-two second runtime gives a sludgy, Roxy Music-esque performance, his lyrics of combating an escape from fame and interpersonal politics are what, for me, really set him apart from the other actor-to-singer pipelines. With his new single, “Basic Being Basic,” he set it in stone.
Pop culture is anything but minimalist. It's an inescapable flash-bang of everything. And who doesn’t get tired of a constant reminder? In an interview with Jimmy Fallon, Keery describes the album as, “One of many, so just having a lot going on and a lot to look at.” The same goes for the song, which references how it feels to switch apps to talk to the same person, fashion in the media, and how everything seems to be curated to a standard (even if it's supposed to look like it's not)/
“Take a picture of your plate, Tarantino movie taste/
Rah-rah, cheugy-phobe, Vera Bradley's back in Vogue/
It's a flash photograph/
What an empty epitaph that is (That's basic)”
Critiquing the meaning of the “basic,” he questions if living in the moment is even worth it. There is the modern fear of being the same, different from the more adolescent fear of being too arrayed from the norm. People worry about how they are viewed, and although that's understandable, it slows you down. By placing a negative connotation on “basic” we run away from so many things that are objectively enjoyable. It’s not a matter of liking what everyone likes when you are in control of yourself.
The new sound is unlike his past projects. While his last album, Decide, leaning heavy into goopy synths, The Crux (recorded in the iconic Electric Lady Studios), seems to have an air of ‘60s alternative rock seeping into its new wave inspirations, especially in line delivery. The talk-sing flow of this single is akin to Talking Heads or Ian Dury with the listener on the other half of a one-sided conversation.
“Basic Being Basic” is just the first of twelve songs off of The Crux. With the album's promotion depicting bellboys and run-down hotels, one can only question its concept and hope to decipher messages through what we have now. Djo has come a long way from his indie rock roots, proving himself a stand out in the scene. And with Keery’s old band, Post Animal, going on tour with him in April, there is so much more to come.