In 2009, when Vic Chestnutt was interviewed by Terry Gross on Fresh Air, he explained the sentiment lurking within “Flirted With You All My Life,” a heartbreaker from his penultimate album At The Cut: “You know, I’ve attempted suicide three or four times. It didn’t take.” It did take last Christmas when Chestnutt died in an Athens hospital after going into a coma from an overdose of muscle relaxants. Covering a song this heavy is a tough task, but David Bazan, who seemingly likes to tackle complex sadness, gave it a go last weekend at Le Poisson Rouge as part of Radio Happy Hour. Only not so happy.

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As first reported by @KristinHersh, the paralyzed Athens singer/songwriter overdosed on pills and was pronounced dead on Christmas day. Constellation has collected words from admirers like Jeff Mangum and Michael Stipe, along with info on public memorials and donating in his honor.

Yes, this is the year of Dark Nights (but not that kind, which is very last year). We’d told you about Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse’s ubiquitous Dark Night Of The Soul posters, and now we can point you toward a number of sounds to go with those images. (There are also additional images by Moby’s best friend David Lynch.) If you recall, the musical guest list includes Black Francis, Julian Casablancas, the Flaming Lips, James Mercer, Iggy Pop, Vic Chesnutt, Gruff Rhys, Jason Lytle, Nina Persson, Suzanne Vega, etc. What do all those folks sound like together? Well, very mellow. Like Grandaddy and the Flaming Lips hugging (until you get to the tracks sung by Casablancas and Iggy, when things shift a bit). Guess the night wasn’t all that dark. The navigation’s a bit confusing, so when you head to Chrysalis Music to hear for yourself, take a look to the left and you’ll hit paydirt. (UPDATE: No more stream, sadly.) You can see some of Lynch’s darker visuals after the jump…

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