Scott Hutchison’s body was found last night. As of the last I read, an actual cause of death hasn’t been revealed – or known, perhaps – but it isn’t too difficult to come to a conclusion. That no matter how it happened, why it happened is that he wanted it to. It’s a sort of frozen blanket to me, in a sense, that his death should come today, after a very long winter, and year, in the lives of so many.

I think about death sometimes, when it strikes close to me. I wrote at length what it has meant to me this past season. And yet when a person makes a decision – instead of nature’s course being taken – there is so much more at hand to think of. Indeed, I think of suicide as it relates to my own life…who I’ve known and loved who have taken that bow from their mind and dipped into it, knowingly. People who take that step do so in a haze I’m familiar with. That so many are familiar with.

I was conversing today with the one who first showed me the music of Frightened Rabbit. The Midnight Organ Fight was the album, and it is important, I believe, for so many of us to listen to. Perfect pop songs drench what could be depressing sentiments. Grant the person Scott as much as he deserves in that respect. He knew how to sing along with the pain that is in each of us. That pain, he brilliantly heralded through the words he spewed; with the melodies he harnessed; with a perfect wall of sound arranged in heartstopping form. I love this man for it. And seeing them perform, now 10 or so years ago- that picture of him is laid inside me. We are lucky enough to have his music still. And I hope his spirit is safe somewhere…somewhere his pain can’t find it.