Dessa announces new album, drops lead single "Hurricane Party"
by Jade
August 01, 2023
Dessa visited The Current studio on Monday, July 31 talk to announce her upcoming album, Bury the Lede, expected September 29.
In a conversation with Jade (which you can listen to above and read a transcript of below), Dessa talked about the making of the album, and she provided the context behind the lead single, “Hurricane Party.” Dessa also talked about her upcoming shows with the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.
Interview Transcript
Jade: It's Monday, the last day of July, and I'm so so pleased because, not only is it kind of a New Music Monday, we've got plenty of new music to put our ears to, but my friend Dessa has just stopped by. I feel like this is like the neighborhood, you know, just Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Dessa is just my friendly neighbor who has swung by, but in fact, busy! You are busy right now. So can you tell us a little bit about what you've been up to this summer, kind of where your head's been at? The world is a very intense place to be living in right now, so I lean into whatever joy I can find. And I kind of feel like you've been leaning into some of that joy as well.
Dessa: I also just, in response to the Mr. Rogers thing, I have been trying to figure out how to drop "Correct as usual, King Friday" into a rap song for like 10 years, so I'm gonna do it now because I don't get the chance. Yeah, it's like probably, I think the busiest week, in a good way, that I've had for quite a few years now. So I am gearing up for three shows with the Minnesota Orchestra this weekend, and like joined on stage by all sorts of people with some pretty serious like, Twin Cities bona fides. I hate that word. I always want to say bona fide. So I'm gonna say bona fides. It's my day.
Jade: Bona fides feels like very, like, a Minnesota way of saying it, too. So I like it.
Dessa: So I'll be joined on stage, obviously, by conductor Sarah Hicks, and Aby Wolf and Cameron Kinghorn and Ashley DuBose, just like an incredible slew of vocalists. So we are getting together tonight in, like, the garage behind Aby's house to do our vocal practices for our run on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Jade: That's going to be beautiful. I so appreciate the drama of being on that big of a stage with an orchestra backing you up. And, you know, thinking about the scale of that, as opposed to the scale of a show of say, you know, First Avenue, playing a show there. How do you center yourself or psych yourself up for that difference?
Dessa: Yeah, you know, I mean, so both of us are kind of moving our hands in studio, it's like, you know, when you think about the scale, even just like the size of the stage horizontally, right, like how many steps it takes to go from left to right. And I'm joined on stage by like, like Joshua Holmgren, he's a big mover, you know what I mean? So but you're, you're more aware, just in a bodily way of like how much more your body has to travel in an effort to like meaningfully connect with people situated around the room. And Ashley DuBose will also be there. And one of the one of the things that I'm most aware of though, I think, at Orchestra Hall is like the scale the other way; like the distance between the floor that you're standing on, and how high the acoustically designed ceilings are. It creates, like, a dynamic range, that's really hard, I think, to get in any other room, because you can hear like a single note sounded quietly on a violin, you know, more than 2,000 people can hear that. Or you can go full bore, you know, and in some of the arrangements done by Andy Thompson, you've got everybody going hard, you know, there's still moments of like real aggression. And so you go from almost nothing to more than everything. At the drop of a hat.
Jade: Yeah, in the expectation for the audience, I feel, is a different expectation as well; they want that drama, they want that musical arc because, you know, it's kind of a seated situation as opposed to like, you know, there's the bar in the back, somebody's just catching up with their buddy and you're onstage. You know, it's a different audience expectation energy, too.
Dessa: Yeah, 100%. And I think, I think some of the challenge though, is to sort of like bridge the real or imagined divide, right? So some of that is made explicit, you know? I'm on stage with my touring, like the members of my like road, you know, road dog touring party, too. Aviva J is in from Brooklyn for the show. And I think one of the things that we're doing with our bodies is like demonstrating like, this isn't a place that you have to stay polite, you know what I mean?
Jade: It's not the capital A art that you should in your mind, you know, quote unquote, have when you walk into that sort of space. Yeah, I think that is something that, you know, thinking about the new music that you're making and — spoiler — I kind of read the the info, but I haven't listened to the new song yet. So I'm excited to listen to it with you right now and sort of experience it together. But that sort of beret to snapback mentality, but bringing that into an album of like, where are we at in a world that's post COVID? And that, you know, there are wars happening in the world? How do you find some sort of, you know, where, I guess, where do you come at a new album in the world in 2023?
Dessa: And it's interesting, because in some ways, you've also got like season ticket holders for the orchestra. So you do have, you know, berets to snapbacks, like, how to make both demographics feel welcome. Like, this is a show where you can sit back and be enveloped by the noise, or this is a show where you can put your hands up. And that I think, is as a as a frontperson is, is always sort of a tricky line to navigate. But the message being like, this is a show that you paid to attend, like enjoy it how you want to enjoy it. I think really differently, to be honest, than I had before and differently, content wise, different process wise, you know, one of the lessons that I think me and my team learned during COVID — well, maybe I'll say I learned it — was, you know, I am a, I am a control enthusiast.
Jade: How polite!
Dessa: And historically, I've wanted to have like, a hand or both hands on absolutely every detail of the process. And I think during COVID when it was like, OK, you are collaborating across the country, you can't go into mix, like nobody can go in anywhere, you know? I just didn't have the ability to like, have my finger on absolutely every dial. And then when we finished our work, I was like, "Oh, it's, it's still good." Like, I wasn't helping that much.
Jade: Trust, though! Building trust!
Dessa: Trust. And also just, yeah, like a better calibration of where the line of diminishing returns was. It's like, "I'm a good songwriter. I'm not a good mixer," you know what I mean? So like, really lean into the talented team that I work with, the shouts out, Joe Mabbott. But like, I realized, like, I think I want my hand on almost every dial, but I don't have to touch everything. And that allows the project, a lot of times, to breathe and kind of move in unexpected directions, right? Because I wasn't planning every variable. So like, I benefit from the imaginations of other people that way, you know?
Jade: So what was an unexpected thing that happened while you were in process for the new album?
Dessa: I think even like, you know, I'm, to my discredit, I can be sort of territorial, and working with Lazerbeak, who does most of the like beats on the record, there was one beat that he was like, "Ah, you should write to this one." And historically that is not how I've worked. And I was like, "I listen to all the beats, and then I pick the ones I want!" And I think even just being game to be nudged, like, "Hey, I know that you didn't pick this one out of the pile, sit with it for a couple hours. See what you can do." Like I would have been sort of, I don't know, like, "This is the sacred selection process." And this time, it ended up in the track we're about to hear, which is "Hurricane Party," which ended up being the lead single.
Jade: So tell us more about "Hurricane Party," because I was at a tornado warning party in Iowa over the weekend.
Dessa: What does that mean?
Jade: It means everyone was out in the streets, and then the tornado sirens went off, and so everybody was like, "I guess we'll go into this bar here and hope for the best." So I'm curious, what is a hurricane party? At least to you?
Dessa: I think you've landed the vibe. I mean, yeah, like hurricane parties actually do happen in zones that are hit regularly by hurricanes, where you're battening the hatches and boarding up the windows, and then you share, like space and booze and provisions with other people who are not evacuating for the storm, you know? So I, when I first heard about that kind of phenomenon, I remember being like "Yo, that is a prepackaged metaphor," like, in twine, delivered at my doorstep too, because I feel like, you know, before 2020, I think I would have thought it was responsible to — or excuse me — like irresponsible to just, for example, back away from the news: What do you mean you're not going to watch the news? Don't you have to be an informed citizen of the world? And I think in these intervening three years, we've all been like, "Yo, this 24-hour constant news cycle is relentless and can hurt you" if you stay constantly, like, both fingers plugged into the outlet. And so in this song, I think there's sort of a balance of like, acknowledging the storm looming, and also leaning into a little bit of the hedonism of like, "Yo, but also find pleasure where you can."
Jade: Yeah, I mean, if you only focus on the doom and gloom, yeah, what's the point of even being here?
Dessa: 100.
Jade: Yeah, so let's take a listen to this new song. And I should say yes, a new Dessa album on the way. When is the album actually going to be out? Do we know?
Dessa: We do.
Jade: Good. All right.
Dessa: I can hear my manager Becky talking to the radio. So the first two songs — we have a lead double single, they come out tomorrow, so this is an early radio premiere — and then the record itself comes out on September 29.
Jade: Beautiful. And are you cool to share the name of the album?
Dessa: Yeah, you do it.
Jade: All right. Bury the Lede. I love this. As a journalist, that's a phrase that I enjoy so, so much. So yes, Bury the Lede. It will be out again...
Dessa: September 29.
Jade: And there is the shows this weekend with the Minnesota Orchestra. And coming up, there's going to be a big throwdown right here in the Twin Cities. I know we were talking about highbrow lowbrow, but bringing it all together, and so Dessa will be back in November at First Avenue. We're going to have a presale kicking off for that on Friday, so I'll keep you looped in. But let's just listen to the music; that's what you're here for too. Let's get a little hedonistic and dive in to "Hurricane Party." This is the new song from Dessa, you're hearing it first here on The Current.
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