Dessa

Doomtree

Initially drawn to their raw aesthetics and unique sound, Dessa forged a friendship with Doomtree. Soon after, she was asked to join the crew and did so. Since 2005, Dessa has toured with and appeared on all Doomtree albums, as well as on the other members' solo albums. She was the CEO of Doomtree,^[9] however, she relinquished that post to her label mate, Lazerbeak, to focus on her own career.^[10]

Solo career

Dessa's debut solo EP, False Hopes, was released in 2005. Despite being only fifteen minutes long, it was listed as one of the top local albums of the year by Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Dessa's first solo album, A Badly Broken Code, was released on January 19, 2010. The singles from this album were "Dixon's Girl" and "The Chaconne". The album features production from Paper Tiger, MK Larada, Lazerbeak, Cecil Otter and Big Jess. MK Larada also designed the album art.^[11]

In 2011, Dessa released Castor, the Twin, a remix album featuring new arrangements of songs released on previous projects, primarily A Badly Broken Code. The original production in the remixed tracks was replaced with live instrumentation.^[12]

In 2013, Dessa released her second full-length album Parts of Speech that made its debut in Billboard's Top 200.^[13] The singles from this album are "Warsaw" and "Call Off Your Ghost."

On February 23, 2018, Dessa released her third full-length album Chime, that made its debut in Billboard's Top 200, and at #3 on Billboard's Independent Charts.^[14] Chime was listed as one of "NPR" Music's 40 Favorite Albums of 2018 (so far).^[15]

Writing Works

At the fourth annual Doomtree Blowout in 2008, and via Doomtree Press, Dessa released Spiral Bound a seventy-page collection of fiction and poetry.^[16][17] Following that, in 2013, she released a book of poems called A Pound Of Steam, in partnership with Rain Taxi.^[18]

After having been scouted by the Francis Golden Literary Agency,^[19] Dessa signed a publishing deal with Dutton, a division of Penguin Random House, in early 2018, to release a collection of creative non-fiction essays entitled My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love. The hardcover book is set for release later this year, on September 18, 2018.^[20] The book is an uncompromising and candid account of her life in motion, in music, and in love.^[21]

In the past, she has written for New York Times Magazine about visiting New Orleans as a tourist.^[22] and Ars Medica.

In 2017, she co-wrote an episode of the popular fiction podcast Welcome to Night Vale, and voiced the character Sabina. Her songs "Call of Your Ghost" and "Fire Drills" had been used in the show's "Weather" segments in the past.

Side projects and non-Doomtree collaborations

Dessa is a founding member of The Boy Sopranos, an almost all-female a cappella group, with frequent collaborators Jessy Greene, Aby Wolf and others. She also taught at the Institute of Production and Recording and the McNally Smith College of Music.^[23] She was also a member of the indie super-group Gayngs founded by Ryan Olson (of Poliça fame), in 2010, along with 22 other musicians including Justin Vernon.^[24][25]

On March 2, 2012, Dessa presented "Mic Lines: Art, Ethics, and their Contested Connections" at Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as part of the three-day Nobel Peace Prize Forum .^[26][27]

Dessa was the host of Twin Cities Public Television's The Lowertown Line, a live music series, from 2012 to 2014.^[28]

In 2012, she partnered with the "artisan cosmetic house" from Minnesota, Elixery, to create her own shade of lipstick, all of the proceeds of which were donated to CARE (relief agency).^[29]

She was a contributing artist on the 2015 St. Paul-based "Plume Project." A public art installment in which images and colors were projected onto steam rising from a smokestack in downtown St. Paul and music and spoken-word pieces could be accessed by calling a phone number. Dessa read her poem "Circle Games."^[30]

In 2016, she had a flavor of ice cream named after her on July 27, 2016 by Izzy's Ice Cream, “Dessa’s Existential Crunch”.^[31] The same year, she contributed to The Hamilton Mixtape with her cover of the song "Congratulations."^[32]

In April 2017, she headlined a show with the Minnesota Orchestra, which featured new arrangements of her songs as well as a story performed in prose.^[33]

Dessa sang the National Anthem at the Minnesota Twins home opener on April 5, 2018.^[34] And on July 28, 2018, she sang the National Anthem at the 2018 WNBA All-star game held in Minneapolis.^[35]

In August 2018, Dessa traveled with the Minnesota Orchestra as they went on a two-week, five-stop tour through South Africa, reportedly the first tour of an American orchestra to the country, and helped document the trip for Minnesota Public Radio alongside MPR journalist and cultural critic Euan Kerr.^[36]

Solo studio albums

EPs

• False Hopes (2005)
• Parts of Speech, Re-Edited (2014)

Singles

• "Matches to Paper Dolls ('Castor, the Twin' Mix)" (2013)
• "Warsaw" (2013)
• "Call Off Your Ghost" (2013)
• "Quinine" (2016)
• "Good Grief" (2017)
• "Fire Drills" (2017)
• "5 Out of 6" (2018)

Medida

• Medida (2004)

Guest appearances

• Sims – "No Homeowners" from Lights Out Paris (2005)
• Kanser – "No D in Erogenous" from Kanser (2005)
• Paper Tiger – "Speedmetal" from False Hopes (2007)
• Mel Gibson and the Pants – "Bit of a Buzz" from Sea vs. Shining Sea (2007)
• Heiruspecs – "Change Is Coming" from Heiruspecs (2008)
• P.O.S – "Low Light Low Life" from Never Better (2008)
• Paper Tiger – "Palace" and "And the Camera" from Made Like Us (2010)
• Lazerbeak – "Bound" from Legend Recognize Legend (2010)
• Gayngs – "No Sweat" "Faded High" from Relayted (2010)
• p-teK – "This Bridge Is Burning for You" from Oh! What a Miracle! (2011)
• Hamilton Mixtape - "Congratulations" from Hamilton Mixtape (2016)
• Lin-Manuel Miranda - "Almost Like Praying" - Benefit single for Hurricane Maria Relief (2017)
• Joey Van Phillips - "Broken Arrow" (with P.O.S.) from Punch Bowl (2017)
• The Mountain Goats - "Balance" - Cover version for I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats (2018)