Mark Linkous, the frontman of Sparklehorse, has committed suicide. Sparklehorse’s albums—particularly 2001’s It’s A Wonderful Life—are some of the saddest and most beautiful music you’ll ever have the pleasure of hearing. A reader named Alex from the Rolling Stone article sums up Linkous’ contributions wonderfully:

I think most of his songs were about the quiet moments that followed the loud and terrible moments in your life, and that’s really when you listen to music. He was really just a beautiful, beautiful person.

Linkous’ recent collaboration with Danger Mouse and David Lynch, Dark Night of the Soul, is finally set for release after clearing the last in a series of legal hurdles. He was also nearly finished recording what would have been Sparklehorse’s fifth album. Check out the Guy Maddin-directed video for “It’s A Wonderful Life” below.