Given that I just listened to Joe Keery’s lastest single under the “stage name,” Djo, his solo musical effort, I figured I better give his back catalog a fair shake. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised by Twenty-Twenty!
The album as a whole gave off a strictly electronic feel, but as the album went on, the sound changed quite sonically. Sometimes that was good and other times it was less impressive. I also went into listening to this album reading a recent GQ interview with Keery where he described this barely two year old album as “basic.” At times I understand what he meant, but there are certainly some real gems off this record. I’m sure he ultimately feels the same way, and at the time of making the album I’m sure he loved it all. Time. What a sucker of fun.
Anyways, some tracks that I really liked off this album were “Personal Lies, “Chateau (Feel Alright),” “Roddy,” and “Flash Mountain.” Sure, there’s a brief intro to the album, but the first full song is “Personal Lies,” and what a terrific start! It went on a journey that at first had it sounding like something the Beach Boys would make before morphing into an Electric Light Orchestra riff ala “Don’t Bring Me Down,” before mellowing back out into a more space rock sound. I really dug it. I’ve done this weird thing before, and I did it here with “Chateau (Feel Alright),” where I listen to a live version of the song before giving the recorded version a go. No clue why, but I can confirm that there is no difference between the two versions for this song. That’s super impressive! “Roddy” is a track that I listened to back when Keery released it as a single, but I very much forgot how freaking cool the last two minutes of the song were. Same can be said for “Flash Mountain.” It just gave off a really consistently good 80s-vibe and quick pace from start to finish.
There’s a three-song ride where the beat and vocals sort of devolve as each song starts, and I was not feeling it. It started with “BNBG” which get some points for the groove of it all, but “Ring” left me feeling uneasy, while “Total Control” was a complete departure from any other sound and vocals on the rest of the album. I suppose that was probably the purpose of “Total Control,” and while I admire the creativity, it just didn’t land for me. Most of the rest of the album was decent, and overall a more relaxing listen, but no other tracks stood out quite like the ones I mentioned earlier. I will say, another song that jumped out but didn’t quite earn a top spot for me was “Mortal Projections.” It’s going to sound weird, but this song reminded me of vampires. As it went along it had a bit of an electronic southern gothic sound. Not sure if that’s real, but that’s what I heard.
Overall, I thought it was a pretty solid first solo record, and as I said the other day, I’m looking forward to the new stuff. His new single has some very strong Tame Impala influences and that can only mean good things. Until September!