New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Dessa, the rapper, singer, writer, academic, and all-around polymath, who NPR hailed as a "national treasure," will release her first solo full-length album in five years, Bury the Lede,
September 29th, 2023 on Doomtree Records. It's an eleven-track project of hard-hitting rap verses, big, catchy pop hooks, and a couple melancholic tracks. Dessa (an anthropology and psychology-enthusiast whose 2018 album, Chime, was inspired by neuroscience) conceptualized Bury the Lede as an examination of human nature and mortality. Reflecting on the pleasure-seeking and loss-aversion that define us as a species, the album ultimately endorses a Camus-with-a-lime-twist take on life. "It's about indulging in a measure of hedonism even as the threat on the horizon mounts … Survival is, at best, indefinite. So maybe get a cocktail with an umbrella in it," says Dessa.
The new album leans into the light more than past projects-more moments of levity and abandon, more danceable-but it's still very much a product of Dessa's lyrical style, writerly and multi-layered, and meticulous.
Special pre-order bundles of Bury the Lede are available now and include everything from magnetic poetry and tongue-in-cheek Dessa devotional candles to a limited-edition screenprinted poster with handwritten lyrics.
Over a career that's taken her from DIY basement hip-hop shows to the stage of Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall (where she returns this week) and landed her on TED-Talk soundstage in Hong Kong, Dessa's work has evolved over the years to incorporate more of her personal pop sensibilities, but the pandemic prompted a reconsideration of her process. "During Covid I was surprised to learn that not every step of the extra mile I'd been going was actually serving the project— songs sounded just as good with only 95% of the micromanagement. And easing up gave the sound a little breathing room."
Executively produced with longtime collaborators and friends Lazerbeak (Doomtree, Lizzo) and Andy Thompson (Taylor Swift, Dan Wilson), Dessa and company's indie-rock, soul, and Swedish-pop inflected rap on Bury the Lede create an album that's hard to imagine hearing from anyone else. And, despite the wide range of influences, it's also one of Dessa's most cohesive albums to date.
Listen to the first two singles, the rap-forward "Hurricane Party," and the irresistibly poppy "Chopper," both out today. "Hurricane Party" had its radio premiere on Seattle's KEXP; Chopper was premiered by The Current in the Twin Cities. And watch the music video for "Hurricane Party," directed by Aleutian Calabay and shot in and around Minneapolis, with stunning footage from an aquarium.
Dessa reports that the "Hurricane Party" video came together as the product of a nimble team, some moon-shot requests, and some generous favors. "Hoping to weasel my way into an aquarium, I connected on Twitter with the SEA LIFE facility in the basement of the Mall of America. Looking for location #2, I posted again: Twin Citizens: Do you, by chance, have access to a TV news desk that you'd be willing to lend to an indie artist for an hour or two? Lo and behold, Wisdom Gaming Studios allowed us into their studio (also, remarkably, in the Mall of America). The director Aleutian locked in a grocery as location #3, we chatted out the treatment together; I pulled wardrobe from my own closet, and we were ready to roll."
In this how'd-they-do-that-on-an-indie-budget video, a frozen fish is brought back to life, the storyline studded with Easter Eggs for dedicated fans. Dessa chose to pair "Hurricane Party" with "Chopper" as the two lead singles to provide a preview of the breadth of the full record. Between the classic rap-banger-Dessa energy of "Hurricane Party" (where people gather together to take cover from a coming storm with music, booze, and dancing) and the Swede-influenced, beat-driven pop punch of "Chopper," they're a two-song snapshot of the excellence, lyrical experimentation, and musical diversity of Bury the Lede. To quote the LA Times, Dessa "sounds like no one else."
Watch for more to come from Dessa, news on the forthcoming album, and Dessa's album release tour this fall with bandmates Joshua Holmgren (sax, vox) and Aviva Jaye (vox, harp). More on Dessa and her routing - including Minnesota Orchestra shows this
Thursday (8/3), Friday (8/4), and Saturday (8/5) - below.
DESSA TOUR DATES:
9.9 Grand Rapids, MN - Grand Rapids Riverfest
9.10 Duluth - West Theater
10.2 Ft. Collins - The Armory
10.4 Denver - Ophelia's
10.5 Seattle - Crocodile
10.7 Portland - Polaris Hall
10.17
Boston - Middle East
10.19 Philadelphia - World Cafe Live
10.20 NYC - LPR
10.21 DC -
Black Cat
11.14 - Eau Claire -
Pablo Center
11.16 - Minneapolis - First Ave
11.18
Chicago - Bottom Lounge
11.19 Madison - Majestic
1.16 San
Diego - Casbah
1.18 Los Angeles - Lodge Room
1.19
Santa Ana - Constellation Room
1.20 Pioneertown - Pappy & Harriet's
1.21 San Francisco - The Independent
Dessa fell in love with language as a toddler---and she just never got over it. Coming up in Minneapolis, she collected favorite words to decorate the walls of her brain; as teenager, she thrilled in metaphor; and when she started writing songs and touring, she'd always lean in to pick up on the regional slang (they say yinz instead of y'all in Pittsburgh; a beanie is a tuque in Canada; gotta ask for a lead to get mic cable in the UK). Now, Dessa works in most fields that traffic in words: she's recorded rap bangers as part of the fiercely independent Doomtree collective, released a live album with the Grammy-winning Minnesota Orchestra; contributed to the New York Times and
National Geographic Traveler; delivered a TED Talk on the intersection of romance and neuroscience that's notched more than 4 million views; hosted two seasons of the Deeply Human radio program (BBC/American Public Media/iHeartMedia); and published a memoir recounting most of the above called My Own Devices, published by Dutton (Penguin
Random House). She lives in Minneapolis and Manhattan, still tours in a rented van, and is probably eavesdropping on the neighboring table, listening for a word to add to the collection.
