From Minneapolis, Minnesota, rapper and singer by the name Dessa, made her first mark in the music industry after releasing the debut EP False Hopes in 2005. Her career blasted off when she released three full-length solo albums between the years 2010 and 2018. Dessa has delivered a total of seven studio albums with the record label, Doomtree, including remix album and a live album with Minnesota Orchestra. On September 29th, Dessa’s new album Bury the Lede will be available on all streaming platforms.
The album opens with the single “Hurricane Party,” a strong portrayal of Dessa’s pop-house / vogue aesthetic. The beat is kept with the click of tuned bottles. Musicians like Dessa are playing more and more with everyday objects to create their distinguished sound. The pitch and vibration of tuned bottles change with the level of water inside. In “Hurricane Party,” bottles become a theme in the beat as well as the lyrical imagery. At the function Dessa “fill[s] the kiddie pool up with Prosecco” and fades into an abyss of “gold dust, sex and Bacardi.”
Dessa’s rap style is sprinkled in the songs “Decoy,” “What If I’m Not Ready” and “Long Wave.” Each beat touches a striking new aspect of Dessa’s genre and flow. “Long Wave” opens with a guitar riff and synth, then transitions into a hip-hop / trap beat. Throughout the verse her lyrics have a quick poetic flow. When the chorus comes, her voice drifts into long sustained notes that contrast the movement of the verse. Track two called “Decoy,” helps to isolate the complexities of Dessa’s vocals. Her own lyrics describe it as “keeping time with a heartbeat.” It escalates and resolves into the next track, “Chopper.”
In this alternative single, Dessa is “tired of the bar scene / the stupid parties.” But the also stimulating pop spirit of “Chopper” is just like a bar or party and Dessa is “here to feel it all.” The songs “Tell Me Again” and “I Already Like You” follow “Chopper” with a synth-pop, dance party wave. A trend within every Dessa album is her experimentation with more than one sound and/or genre. She mixes live strings, horns and percussion with synth-pop and techno beats. She paces her lyrics to follow rap cadences and steady belts. The album is a journey that elicits new emotions upon each track. No two sound the same.
The album slows down for Dessa’s ballad, “Crash.” In this track, harmonies peak through during the pre-chorus, “I accidentally tell the truth” and again in the chorus, “I came to crash your party / I just wanna help pick up all the pieces.” The layered voices introduce an angelic yet somber side of Dessa. This level of intimacy appears on previous albums as well. For example, “Poor Atlas” from the album A Badly Broken Code, “Say When” and “Boy Crazy” from the album Chime and “The Beekeeper” from the album Castor, the Twin.
The final track “Rothko,” alludes to the famous painter Mark Rothko whose art is known for bringing human emotions to light. She opens with the lyric, “you see shapes inside the paintings / but all I see is black.” The music stops for a second as Dessa reveals the final punch. She compares a toxic relationship to a toxic metal pigment with the line, “but you and me we could be cadmium / cadmium red.”
Leave a Comment