Stuff Besides My Own Devices that I’ve Written about Dessa
Synopsis:
Witty and moving, this debut memoir in essays from the dynamic rapper and singer Dessa, is a candid account of her life in the van as a hard-touring musician, her determination to beat long odds to make a name for herself as a performing artist, and her struggle to fall out of love with someone in her band. In a literary, honest style, evoking Amanda Palmer and Miranda July, Dessa demonstrates in My Own Devices just how far the mind can travel while the body is on the six-hour ride to the next rap show.
Dessa defies category
–she is an academic with an international rap career; a lyrical writer fascinated by behavioral science; and a funny, charismatic performer dogged by blue moods and a perseverant case of heartache. In “The Fool That Bets Against Me,” Dessa wonders if the romantic anguish that’s helped her write so many sad songs might be an insurable professional asset. To find out, she applies to Geico for coverage.
“A Ringing in the Ears” tells the story of her father building an airplane in their backyard garage–a task that took him almost seven years. The essay titled “Congratulations” reflects on recording a song for The Hamilton Mixtape in a Minneapolis basement, straining for a high note and hoping for a break. The last piece in the collection, “Call off Your Ghost,” relays the fascinating project Dessa undertook with a team of neuroscientists that employed fMRI technology and neurofeedback to try to clinically excise her romantic feelings for an old flame.
Her onstage and backstage stories are offset by her varied fascinations–she studies sign language, algebra, neuroanatomy–and this collection is a prism of her intellectual life. Her writing is infused with fascinating bits of science and sociology, philosophical insights, and an abiding tenderness for the people she tours with and the people she leaves behind to do it.
Dessa’s music has been praised as “forceful and whip-smart” (NPR) with a sound “like no one else” (The Los Angeles Times); and My Own Devices is as uncompromising and brilliant. Dessa finds unconventional approaches to all of her subjects–braiding her lived experience with academic research and a poet’s tone and timing. In the vein of thinkers who defy categorization, we get the debut of a deft, likable, and unusual voice.
Edition:
Hardcover
My Thoughts:
I find Dessa endlessly interesting. She’s a good mix of street smart and book smart, and it shows in her music and in her writing. My Own Devices she doesn’t just tell you “I was born, then I did x, then y.” Instead, she tells you about science, and about love, and music. About writing, and singing and being in love. And about staying in love even after you don’t want to be in love anymore. She tells you about the normal stuff too. Her childhood, her parents and her brother. She tells you a bit about the man she fell in love with. About how she got into rapping. How she did a TED Talk. How she used science to fall out of love. What it’s like being on tour. Hold up – did you get that? She used SCIENCE TO FALL OUT OF LOVE. More on that here:
She’s just so cool. I mean, who would think about using science to make themselves stop being in love with someone that they just can’t make it work with? She introduces a handful of new-to-me terms throughout that bit, but she does a good job of explaining them. She explains without making the reader feel like a dummy.
And everyone likes to read a musician’s stories from the road, right? She’s got all your favorites (they better be your favorites!) – the whole Doomtree crew makes an appearance at one point. I love the way she talks about these guys. It’s clear that there is a lot of history and a lot of love there. And she poses some important questions about her career as well.
About the Author:
Dessa is a rapper, singer, and essayist who earns her living on the road. She’s performed around the world at opera houses, rock clubs, and sometimes standing on barroom tables. Her imaginative writing and ferocious stage presence have been praised by NPR, Forbes, Billboard, the Chicago Tribune, and the LA Times. As a musician, she’s landed on the Billboard Top 200 as a solo artist; a member of the Doomtree collective; and as a contributor to The Hamilton Mixtape. She’s been published by the New York Times Magazine, MPR, the Star Tribune, Minnesota Monthly, literary journals across the country, and has written two short collections of poetry and essays. She splits her time between Manhattan, Minneapolis, and a tour van cruising at six miles per hour above the posted limit.
Rating:
My Own Devices is an interesting memoir. Dessa has so much of value to say, and I so enjoy reading her work.
My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love By Dessa E P Dutton Published: September 8, 2018 ISBN: 9781524742294 Hardcover, Paperback, E-book, Audio 288 Pages Author's Website
