Dorthia Cottrell - Death Folk Country - Import CD

Credits:

Dorthia Cottrell

Description:

Death Folk Country isnt an entirely accurate description of the sound of Dorthia Cottrells second solo album, but if that phrase sounds intriguing to you, chances are excellent its something youll want to hear. The dark and forbidding sound of Cottrells music on this LP is artful but spare, built from bass, keyboards, deep strings, spectral percussion, and faint acoustic guitar, and there isnt much in the way of a twang. That said, much in the way Nick Cave could cast ancient murder ballads in arrangements that gave them a new context while holding on to their power, Cottrell writes songs with one foot in folk traditions with their contemplation of sinister forces at work in everyday lives, and she sings them with a force thats not theatrical but brings forth the foreboding with a unsettling efficiency. (On tracks like "Midnight Boy" and "Hell in My Water," the blues plays a more recognizable role in this music, as if the ghost of Junior Kimbrough was looking on during the sessions.) Cottrell is best known as the lead singer of the doom metal band Windhand, and the baleful feel of these songs bears certain kinship to her work with the group, but without the overpowering report of the electric guitars, Death Folk Country allows her to explore the nuances of these melodies and the subtleties of this approach flatter her. Although the tone of this music is gentle, a careful listen to the lyrics confirms this is every bit as bitter as her louder work, with the poetic sensibility of her verses reinforcing the power of her imagery. Is it folk or country? Not quite either, but Death Folk Country is a rich, evocative album that confirms Dorthia Cottrells talent functions just as well when the music whispers rather than howls. ~ Mark Deming

Tracklisting:

1.Death is the Punishment for Love
2.Harvester
3.Black Canyon
4.Family Annihilator
5.Effigy at the Gates of Ur
6.Midnight Boy
7.Hell in My Water
8.Take Up Serpents
9.For Alicia
10.Eat What I KillEat What I Kill
11.