Dessa

When it comes to music, I’m a lover of words, and I always fall for songs with lyrics that really stand out.  So it’s no surprise that I was immediately drawn to Dessa’s songs after hearing her on the radio frequently in the last few months.  With a background as a technical writer, Dessa’s spoken word style is incredibly intelligent and refreshing.  You have to keep up with her pace if you want to hear what she’s saying, and I like the challenge of taking it all in.

Dessa is also part of Doomtree, a hip-hop collective of talented artists.  I like her a lot on her own, though.

Her most recent album, Parts of Speech, features several songs that I’ve come to love, including “Call Off Your Ghost,” “Fighting Fish,” and “I’m Going Down,” a cover of the Bruce Springsteen song.  “Call Off Your Ghost” describes a past relationship and the words are so poignant, and “Fighting Fish” references Zeno’s Arrow, something I had to look up, which must come from Dessa’s days as a philosophy major.

I’m listening to these songs in heavy rotation these days, and I’m excited to check out her previous work, too.