"DECIDE": DJO's growing pains at their best - Album Review

Being catapulted into the Olympus' star system and finding oneself playing one of the most beloved characters in a TV series that has become a global cultural phenomenon in just six years can leave one somewhat bewildered.
What is left is the creation of a doppelgänger to write, compose, produce, perform, and paint a thoroughly meticulous portrait of oneself. It doesn't matter that its outlines are blurred, as they should be. What matters is the substance, the intention, and the artist's authentic vulnerability, which is handed on a silver platter for the millions of viewers who have decided to press play on a certain pop culture phenomenon called Stranger Things and follow his adventures on the small screen.

Joe Keery, aka DJO, ditches the role of "the good dad" Steve Harrington and returns with his sophomore project as an independent musician: 'DECIDE', an album that displays a plethora of sounds that are both enveloping and pungent; addictive, and free-range.
It's a psychedelic journey that traces the dreaded transition phase between the 20s and the early 30 and it's substantially seasoned with typically eighties synths, distortion, scratchy guitars, and a sprinkle of pop - the good kind.

"Love and hate subside/Money grows and dies/People never change/But I have to try"', he sings in the LP's opening track, "Runner". The hard-faced confrontation with fame and the search for an inner balance between his private and public life ("Half-Life") and the need to free ourselves from other people's expectations to become the true masters of our present time ("Gloom"), guide DJO's cathartic process and lead him to enhance the message behind his latest effort. "Change", the debut single off the album, is the loud and proud personification of this feeling and all the multiple impulses that can deeply influence our actions, as he repeatedly sings on the track: "Change/For a minute in the sunlight/Change/At the mention of a conflict/I change/When the jacket doesn't fit right/Change/When you know it isn't perfect".

The American actor and singer-songwriter keep our feet on the ground, telling us about his past and the sense of nostalgia and carefreeness attached to it ("End of Beginning"), his insecurities ("Go For It") and the essential need to understand himself to change perspective and look beyond the horizon ("Figure You Out").

Three years after 'Twenty Twenty' we're confronting a wiser, even more, curious, and perhaps less disenchanted Joe Keery. "DECIDE", which delivers productions by friend and colleague Adam Thein and was recorded at the sacred Sound Factory Studios in L.A., recalls the mystic universe of Crowed House, Tame Impala, and INXS.
By fusing space-rock, neo-psychedelia, new-wave, and alt-rock, but above all by standing out from the jam-packed pop charts, Keery releases one of the most interesting albums of 2022 and secures a spot among the artists to keep an eye on in the coming months. Between his time on set (He is currently filming Saverio Costanzo's new movie "Finalmente L'Alba in Rome ed.) and his other endeavors, his intention to take his music to global stages has been reiterated several times.
We are just waiting for a date in sunny Italy to be swept away by his vocals, his undeniable charisma, and his stage persona.

Words: Alessia Bisini

Disclaimer: The original version of this album review appeared on the Italian publication HeyJude Magazine on Sept. 16th 2022.