I was listening to Sunbather again this morning, and as I’ve said since first hearing the thing, it’s gonna be my No. 1 album of 2013, no contest. The race for No. 2, though, is pretty tight — but if the year were to end today, Windhand’s incredible forthcoming sophomore album Soma would take home those honors. As I wrote about the album’s lead single, “Woodbine,” in a recent 5 Best Songs Of The Week:

Within one second, “Woodbine” has leveled everything in its immediate vicinity, and it spends the next nine minutes crushing everything else. The guitars have the mass of mountains, and from those heights, riffs descend with the inescapable force of an avalanche. Frontwoman Dorthia Cottrell delivers resin-sticky melodies in spacey, spectral gusts, while the rhythm section just blasts forward, not slowly, but inexorably, in long, powerful strides.

Today, though, the band has made available the album’s opening song, “Orchard” — and while the above description totally applies here, too, for my money “Orchard” is an even better song than “Woodbine.” Listen.

09/05 – The Side Bar @ Baltimore, MD %
09/06 – St. Vitus @ Brooklyn, NY
09/07 – Golden Tea House @ Philadelphia, PA %
09/08 – Belvidere’s @ Pittsburgh, PA
09/09 – Shrunken Head @ Columbus, OH
09/10 – The Melody Inn @ Indianapolis, IN
09/11 – The Cobra Lounge @ Chicago, IL
09/12 – The Cactus Club @ Milwaukee, WI
09/15 – Shooter’s @ Billings, MT
09/16 – VFW Hall @ Missoula, MT
09/17 – The Highline @ Seattle, WA $
09/18 – Ash St. Saloon @ Portland, OR $
09/19 – Monstros Pizza @ Chico, CA *
09/20 – The Hemlock @ San Francisco, CA
09/21 – The Stork Club @ Oakland, CA
09/22 – The Complex @ Los Angeles, CA
09/23 – Burt’s Tiki Lounge @ Salt Lake City, UT
09/24 – 3 Kings Tavern @ Denver, CO
09/25 – The Bourbon Theatre @ Lincoln, NB ^
09/26 – The Record Bar @ Kansas City, MO
09/27 – Doublewide @ Dallas, TX #
09/28 – The Grotto @ Ft. Worth, TX #
09/29 – The Mohawk @ Austin, TX
09/30 – White Water Tavern @ Little Rock, AR
10/01 – The Owl Farm @ Nashville, TN
10/02 – The Hideaway @ Johnson City, TN &
10/03 – Strange Matter @ Richmond, VA

% – w/ Ilsa
$ – w/ Bell Witch
* – w/ Amarok
^ – w/ Call of the Void
# – w/ Solomon & Pinkish Black
& – w/ Generation of Vipers