RIP David Berman: musician, poet, lyricist, writer, and the leader of bands Silver Jews and Purple Mountains. The amount of tributes and messages to the beyond I’ve seen over the last 24 hours have been both inspiring and heartbreaking. I’ve been seeing plenty of artists share their feelings online about the tragedy, but also a ton of friends whose lives were greatly affected by the man’s work. From anecdotes from these folks, it’s clear that Berman was truly a special individual, a songwriter and poet able to synthesize the ordinary into the extraordinary while still keeping things so nonchalant, self-deprecating and relatable.

Truthfully I’m not the most knowledgable of fans when it comes to his work, but I really did love his newest album as Purple Mountains, and have always respected Silver Jews as a benchmark of creativity and lyricism. The new album is so incredibly heartbreaking and was hard for me to get through before – I listened to it once through last night, but it was sobering to say the least. He was loved and respected by all and for good reason. No one else writes a line quite like him. I hope he found his peace, cause he sure as hell deserves it.