CD Odyssey Disc 1634: Dessa

I feel a bit fresher than usual today. This could be the therapeutic effect of a four day weekend or maybe that I got out of work slightly less late than usual.

Whatever it is, let’s get this review rolling!

Disc 1634 is…Ides

Artist: Dessa

Year of Release: 2021

What’s up with the Cover?  I am not sure. Feathers?

How I Came To Know It: I love Dessa but didn’t even realize she’d released this album until a year late. CDs as a format sell out quickly in these days of vinyl supremacy, and I was worried it would be out of print. Fortunately, she was still selling CDs at good ‘ole dependable Bandcamp. And here we are!

How It Stacks Up: I have five Dessa albums and “Ides” comes in at lowly #5. There is no shame in this, however, just a recognition that Dessa has an amazing catalogue of music.

Rating: 3 stars but almost 4

Minneapolis hip hop artist is one of a kind. Rarely will you find someone who has an incredible voice, great phrasing or the ability to spit rhymes – Dessa does all three. On top of that, she has an uncanny talent for knowing which approach each of her songs call for. Often that answer is some crossover of two or three different styles, stitched together into something greater than the sum of its parts.

The biggest challenge for “Ides” is that it is a lowly EP and doesn’t give you enough time to fully fall under Dessa’s charm and genius. Even so, there are plenty of high points to latch on to.

The record starts with the accessible but totally amazing, “I Already Like You”. This one has a funky beat, and a disco-adjacent groove that will have you doing the sideways head slide when you’re waiting at a light. There are about 10 distinct things going on in this song, all different, all awesome. Maybe you’ll catch a bit of early Madonna, plus some Jamiroquai style funk and then a falsetto Bee Gee-esque dance-friendly echo of the chorus. Or maybe you’ll find three different things that will equally tickly your fancy with the artful why they’re combined into art. to I could spend this entire review talking about how all the pieces connect to each other and still miss the nuance. She does it all in under 2:30, meaning it could have also been a radio hit if only it weren’t so damned smart.

The next tune, named for American author Terry Gross, has Dessa ascending into her half-rap/half-spoken word brilliance. This record lands a host of great turns of phrase, but “Terry Gross” has one of my faves:

“A base hit is the son of a pitch
A tanning bed is the sun for the rich”

Clever.

Rivalling “Terry Gross” for Dessa’s best entry in “furious spitting” is “Rome”. This song has a great groove in the chorus, but that’s nothing compared to the sheer power of her intellect reflected in turns of phrase that are both memorable and socially pointy. She references Chekhov’s gun in reference to police patrols, and then takes aim a few rhyme-filled seconds later at the beauty industry with:

“And I think beauty fucks us up?
It's like sugar in the natural world, we'd never get this much
So the appetite is bottomless
Call Maybelline Anonymous
Make narcissists of all of us”

I like Dessa best when she’s in this fast-rap phase, but she’s just as good at crooning some heart-breaking stories of uncertainty and anxiety, working the frontal lobes and the lizard brain with equal skill.

Additionally, while it is fun to quote her thoughtful lyrics, they are even better experienced out loud her singular style. She bends time around that long second line above, and then strings the next three together like a quick traipse down a never-ending staircase. Or put another way – it is a good read, but a great listen.

The one thing I’d change on this record, is to remove one of the two versions of “Life on Land” that it ends with. The first version is lovely, stark, and raw. The second, “Hope Masike Remix” version adds a lot of bells and whistles that get in the way of the great song you’d just heard moments ago.

Also, at only 25 minutes (21 if you don’t count “Life on Land” twice) it left me wanting more. Not a bad problem to have, and about what you’d expect from a record that finished fifth but is still amazing.

Best tracks: I Already Like You, Terry Gross, Rome

CD Odyssey Disc 1160: Dessa

I picked this next album out of the new (to me) section of my CD collection in anticipation of seeing Dessa in concert at the Philips Backyard Weekender. A review of that show follows the album review below.

Disc 1160 is… Chime

Artist: Dessa

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover? Dessa’s giant head, casting out-of-phase reflections of some kind. Like Dessa, this cover is imbued with a lot of energy.

How I Came To Know It: The boring way – I read a review of this record and decided to check it out. I really liked a couple of the singles and before long, I was hooked.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three albums by Minneapolis rapper Dessa. Of those three, “Chime” comes in at #1.

Ratings: 4 stars

Modern music is infused with way too much pop-crossed hip hop, but listening to “Chime” reminds me that even an over-mined art form will still yield a gem every now and then. Every Dessa album is such a gem, but “Chime” is her shiniest yet.

When she feels like it, Dessa can write some pretty glossy pop songs; the kind of music that should be making her millions if only she wouldn’t insist on being so thoughtful and provocative. Radio pop cannot currently abide this, but at least Dessa shows that there is hope for the future.

On “Chime” pop rears its surprisingly non-ugly head on most of the songs, with catchy hooks in the chorus that are original compositions rather than wholesale samples from the ghosts of hits past. With the exception of the saccharine “Boy Crazy” I liked them all and most have something important to say as well. Sometimes they are intensely personal as with “Good Grief” and sometimes they are intensely political as with “Fire Drills” but they always have something to say.

“Fire Drills” is the star of the album; a pointed song that explores unfair standards we apply to women’s sexuality. Dessa’s B.A. in Philosophy is put to good use as she builds the argument that women are taught to be careful, but only because society is set up to present them with threats. I could say more, but she says it better:

“We don’t say, ‘Go out and be brave’

Nah, we say ‘Be careful, stay safe’

In any given instance that don’t hurt

But it sinks in like stilettos in soft earth,

Like the big win is a day

Without an incident

I beg to differ with it

I think a woman’s worth

I think that she deserves

A better line of work

Than motherfucking vigilance.”

For Dessa, walking home late is like running a fire drill, sticking to safe plan and hoping nothing bad is going to happen and she refused to accept that safe is good enough.

“Chime” is multifaceted, and in addition to pop hooks too good for radio, and unapologetic social commentary she incorporates classical piano, strings and hints of electronica. All of this is fused with a smooth modern production that suggests attention to detail in the studio. In their pure form many of the influences tend to put me off, but Dessa does such a good job of blending them into something new and compelling.

Dessa’s rap has a smooth lyrical flow that slips in and out of the beat without ever losing it. “5 out of 6” and “Fire Drills” are songs with messages; challenges to her detractors and to society at large that are the highlights of the record, but I also have a soft spot for a little 45 second number near the end called “Shrimp.” “Shrimp” is Dessa showing off her mad skills, but it is also self-deprecating and fun, with lines like:

“Dolled up I’m the baddest person

Still like backpacks over purses

Hate that Qs are 2s in cursive

Talk real fast when I get nervous

Rap real fast, but that’s on purpose.”

It makes me wish I could pal around with her for an afternoon. The thought also makes me a little nervous knowing that she’d be quick and very capable at calling me on my bullshit.

There is a bit of “not famous yet” through the album but it doesn’t feel resentful. Dessa wears her indie-rap status as a badge of honour, or as she wryly puts it “I’m tryna get rich slow.” For all that, to assume Dessa is happy to settle, you’d be wrong. This cocktail of humour, activism and ambition is best summed up with the final lines of “Shrimp”:

“Always a bridesmaid

Never an ASTRONAUT!”

If Dessa is a bridesmaid, she’s one that comes to the wedding wearing whatever the hell she wants and who delivers the speech at the reception that no one wants to follow.

Best tracks: Ride, 5 out of 6, Fire Drills, Velodrome, Good Grief, Shrimp

The Concert: July 22, 2018 at the Phillips Brewery Backyard Weekender – Victoria

I am not a festival person. I don’t like the outdoor venues, I’m nervous about the sound quality and I always imagine unpleasant encounters with drunken rubes. However, I also knew that this was easily the best chance I was going to have to see Dessa live, and so I bit the bullet and went.

All of my festival fears were unfounded. The venue was clean and welcoming, the people were friendly (there was a random dude spritzing water on people in the beer lineup but I think given the heat he saw this as a public service). Even the sound quality was top shelf.

I went to the show with my friend Amanda, and we arrived to find it fairly quiet. I suspect the combination of last weekend’s “Rock the Shores” event and it being a Sunday night combined to make the event a little less populated than it otherwise might have been. I had been dreading being pressed in with the sweaty masses, so the smaller audience suited me well.

There were seven different bands playing the Backyarder on Sunday, but I only wanted to see Dessa and so we arrived about 30 minutes before she started. We did catch the end of a hip hop band called “The Sorority” which made me wish I had come earlier. These three gals had a cool flow and a fun, party-time energy. We enjoyed the last couple songs of their set and then grabbed a couple of beers and prepared for Dessa.

We were not disappointed. Dessa commanded the stage with a powerful presence that immediately drew the crowd in. When she started, there might have been thirty people in the audience, and by the time she was done an hour later a few hundred had gathered.

Dessa had a good mix of banter and music. Even when she was just talking, her natural talent made it feel like a spoken word performance all its own. The songs were a strong mix of about 2/3 her new album and 1/3 earlier material, all of it well chosen to showcase both her pop and rap sides equally well.

Dessa’s fantastic skills on the mic were on full display, as she shifted from hard core rapper to pop crooner and back again with an easy grace. I suspect these are complicated songs to perform live but she made it seem not only easy, but a whole lot of fun.

While she is clearly the star of the show, Dessa deftly brings her backing band into the spotlight at every opportunity. In particular the drummer is amazing, and to my shame I can neither remember his name nor find it on the interwebs. Her playful exchanges with him are filled with mock competitiveness but what really comes across is that there is a lot of love there.

For her final two tracks she climbed down off the stage and into the audience to sing “in the round”. On stage she was maybe 20 feet from me, and once she came down to ground level she was even closer. It was pretty awesome.

After the show, Dessa mingled with the crown and I was able to meet her. In the past I have been totally flustered meeting some of my musical idols (see: Lindi Ortega, Lera Lynn) but Dessa seemed easygoing and approachable and I think I was able to communicate my love for her music in a reasonably intelligible way for a change. She even gave me a fist bump and then graciously posed for a picture!

All photos by Amanda who not only kept me company but ensured I would not be “lonely old guy sipping his beer alone”. Thanks, Amanda! After the show we got an extra pint at the Churchill where we were served by a Dessa lookalike named Reed Steele, who I am pretty sure is a superhero who just tends bar to hide her secret identity. All in all, a pretty fine summer Sunday afternoon.

CD Odyssey Disc 1122: Dessa

I test drove a car yesterday and was mistaken for a musician. I won’t deny it felt good. Now I just have to decide if I want to buy the car…

Disc 1122 is… Parts of Speech

Artist: Dessa

Year of Release: 2013

What’s up with the Cover? A storm of hair. This looks great in a photo, but if you’re trying to cross the street with your hands full it is all kinds of annoying.

How I Came To Know It: I discovered Dessa through her 2018 album, “Chime” and dug backwards through her collection from there.

How It Stacks Up:  I have three Dessa records (I’m on the lookout for a fourth). Of those three, I put “Parts of Speech” in third. Hey – someone has to be last.

Ratings: 3 stars but almost 4

Look through my music collection and you want find very much pop-flavoured hip hop, but sometimes an artist is so good you forget your musical predilections. So it is with Minneapolis based pop/hip hop/spoken word artist Margret Wander, aka Dessa.

As noted above, “Parts of Speech” is not my favourite Dessa album but it is far better than most of vacuous hip hip suffusing every award show I mistakenly tune in hoping for better (are the I Heart Radio awards even a real thing?). Whether she is singing, speaking or rapping Dessa is not content to go on about status, possessions and empty anthems. Instead, she infuses her songs with courageous explorations of grief, mental illness, and very real expressions of power, grounded in experience and resilience.

The songs that are the most radio friendly on the album aren’t my favourites, but it is something of a crime that Dessa didn’t hit big with “Parts of Speech”. “Skeleton Key” is a pop anthem if ever there was one, with a catchy hook and a danceable back beat. Somewhere out there are some twenty something playfully bumping rumps, fist pumping and singing along to “Skeleton Key.” The thought gives me hope for the leaders of tomorrow.

Dessa is part of the music collective Doomtree (along with fellow Odyssey dweller P.O.S.). The Doomtree Collective prides itself on thought-provoking rap and innovative beats. Dessa does both and keeps it easy on the ears while doing it. “Warsaw” has some pseudo-African beats married to eighties inspired synth and a little jazz piano in the background.

The combination shouldn’t work but it does, partly because while she adds a lot of elements, Dessa keeps the arrangement sparse and gives it room to breathe and accommodate her raps. Those raps have an easy constant flow that makes you almost forget how furious and in your face they are. On “Warsaw” Dessa chimes in with:

“And I’ve done some living in a glass house

High note blew the motherfucking walls off

And I sleep

With both eyes open

Standing up

Alone and holding

Off the rust

And I’m still living by my maiden name

The name I came with

The name I made

And I’m bare-faced at your masquerade

Filled a flask up before I came.”

It is a message of unapologetic honesty and furious inner rhyme. If you don’t want to hear what Dessa wants to tell you, by all means shut the record off. You’ll only be hurting yourself though.

“Annanabelle” shows Dessa’s softer side, delivering a lyrical poem over a classical arrangement she channels some kind of Gothic poet on the verses and then sings the chorus with the gentle lilt of an angel at sea. The song is about mental illness, so it is an angel lost at sea, but an angel nonetheless. Best line:

“You’re in the bathroom with a flashlight

You’re trying to weigh your shadow

Yeah, you say it’s gotten heavy, hard to drag across the floor.”

Halfway through the album, Dessa does a cover of Springsteen’s “I’m Going Down” and nails it. Her soft vocals bring a new vulnerability and uncertainty to a song that is already about the unsteady ground of a failing relationship.

Dessa isn’t afraid to push metaphor, working in songs like “Fighting Fish” and “Beekeeper,” the latter comparing the smoke used to keep bees docile with the dangers of being sleepy in the face of inequity. Heady stuff.

And for old-schoolers like me, “Parts of Speech” even has a nifty CD case, featuring a pull-tab system for checking out each the lyrics to each song. In 2013 this kind of printed extravagance was almost unheard of.

The only thing that holds this album back a little are the moments that feel a bit too soaked in pop production, and I would’ve preferred a starker approach. For stuff this thought-provoking it tends to let your ear gloss over the message in places where it is worth paying attention.

For this reason it comes in last in my collection, but still almost pulls out four stars.

Best tracks: Warsaw, I’m Going Down, Annabelle, It’s Only Me