The architecture of the album with Djo (Joe Keery live at NYU)

Switched on Pop

Vox Media Podcast Network

Music Interviews, Music History, Music, Music Commentary

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Halfway through the opening track of Joe Keery's The Crux, a line emerges that sounds like casual conversation: "My dog is at my house again, but I live somewhere else." The song refuses to settle into predictable pop architecture, drifting from whispered confession to baroque strings that recall Pachelbel more than indie rock. Recorded live at NYU, Charlie explores how this structural restlessness reflects broader questions about authenticity in contemporary music, examining how Keery's creative process emerged from practical constraints like writing in Stranger Things trailers and stripping back arrangements to work live. The album's hotel metaphor isn't marketing concept but lived displacement: temporary rooms, fractured domesticity, the search for stability. From the snarky dismissiveness of "Basic Being Basic" to a stadium-rock anthem written for his sisters, The Crux demonstrates how eclectic influences can serve cohesive emotional architecture, trusting listeners to follow sophisticated progressions while never losing sight of why these songs matter to people finding their way back to their own hearts. Songs Discussed Djo - "End of Beginning" Djo - "Lonesome is a State of Mind" Djo - "Basic Being Basic" Djo - "Potion" Djo - "Charlie's Garden" Djo - "Back On You" Djo - "Carry the Name" Djo - "Crux" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:40.9	slash audio. Hey, it's Charlie. Today's episode comes from a live session that I hosted last week
0:47.7	at NYU, where I also teach songwriting and production. I was in a room of music students chatting
0:53.2	with Joe Kiri, aka Joe,
0:56.0	DJO, and we revisited his third album, The Crux, on the eve of The Crux deluxe, which just
1:04.0	dropped on Friday. Our aim was to decode this album because it's a chance to hear how one of
1:10.3	today's most adventurous
1:11.8	artists thinks about making an album album, the kind of work that holds together as a complete
1:17.8	statement even while pulling from many different sounds. Here's my conversation with Joe,
1:23.4	live at NYU. Welcome to Switched on Pop. I'm songwriter Charlie Harding, and this is Joe Kiri.
1:34.3	I'm Joe Kiri. Hey. How's everyone doing?
1:36.3	Good. Cool.
1:37.3	I'm so happy that you are joining us here at NYU.
1:41.3	Yeah, thanks for having me.
1:42.3	Since we last checked in about a year and a half ago, we spoke about your album, Decide.
1:50.2	We talked about your huge hit back to Chicago.
	...

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