Photo by Jordan Vance

Photo by Jordan Vance

In the dark of night with a cold wind howling is the perfect setting for listening to the songs of Dorthia Cottrell. As lead singer for the doom metal band Windhand, Ms. Cottrell usually sounds like something crawling out of a dank crypt to seek revenge. For her debut solo album, however, due out on March 3 on Forcefield Records, she’s considerably softened it up into a somber prayer. The dark Americana music complements her hypnotic voice, and the sweet graveyard dirge that minimally accompanies her on “Gold,” the first single, is spot-on perfect.

She grew up with music as an integral part of her family life, playing piano and singing with her grandmother or her father while he played guitar. She learned guitar as a teenager and began writing songs. Moving to Richmond, Virginia, she joined up with Windhand in 2009, and they released their debut album in 2012. They signed with Relapse records in 2013 after releasing a split album with fellow Richmond band Cough on that label. They toured steadily and released their highly regarded Soma album in 2013.

Stereogum has just premiered “Kneeler,” another track from Cottrell’s forthcoming album. I don’t see mention of a tour yet, but keep an eye on her Facebook page.

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