Writing
Bury the Lede: A Cocktail Book is a 6 x 8″ hardcover collection of bespoke drink recipes named after and inspired by the songs on Bury the Lede, the full-length album by Dessa. Some of the recipes can be mixed and served swiftly; others are built in stages for maximum dramatic effect. This slender volume contains not only clever recipes ranging from simple batched cocktails to color-changing showstoppers, designed by beverage maverick Marco Zappia (who makes “the most fun cocktails in America” —Esquire). It’s also a collection of little essays on the strange and interesting ways that artists collaborate, and it offers a bit of insight into the science that sits beneath the surface of every mixed drink. You will find the intrigue of secret recipes guarded by friars; the methods that bartenders use to mix drinks by ear as the temperature affects the pitch of clattering ice; and the alchemic combinations of ideas that emerge from people sharing something strong late at night.
Order a copy HERE.
Tits on the Moon is a collection of 12 stage poems, many of which Dessa performs at her live shows. They’re funny, weird, and a lil bittersweet. The collection opens with a short essay on craft (and the importance of having a spare poem around for when the power goes out). The cover is pressed with gold foil and structurally embossed, designed by Studio on Fire. Published cooperatively by Rain Taxi and Doomtree Records.
Click here to watch Dessa’s reading of “The Body” from Tits on the Moon
My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love, is Dessa’s first hardcover collection, published in September 2018 by Dutton Books (Penguin Random House). As compelling on paper as she is on stage, Dessa stitches together poignant insights on loyalty, romance, science, and language–a demonstration of just how far the mind can travel while the body is on a six-hour ride to the next gig. My Own Devices is an uncompromising and candid account of a life in motion, in music, and in love.
Click here to listen to Dessa read an excerpt of My Own Devices
Other works:
“Who Am I Without My Voice” (The New York Times Magazine)
On the Line (an audio play by Dessa, directed by Jessica Rose McVay and produced by 45North)
Showstopper: a working musician’s pandemic year (The New York Times Magazine Music Issue)
Remembering Grant Imahara (The New York Times Magazine)
In Corsica, a quest for beautiful harmony (National Geographic Traveler)
On travel and artistic inspiration (National Geographic)
Synesthesia in London (New York Times Travel section)
New Orleans (New York Times Magazine)
South Africa tour blog for Classical MPR
Poetry collections: Spiral Bound and Pound of Steam