Playlist: The Deep Hollow circle songs of darkness, pain and suicide

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Suicide isn’t selfish. It’s a hopeless state of being. You are so consumed by blackness, you can’t see the candlelight shining directly in your eyes. The blunt force of life is too much, and so, you find yourself trapped with no way out. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States with more than 44,000 individuals dying each year. It’s a startling statistic that speaks to an ever-growing epidemic clawing at our humanity. Each second, minute, hour that ticks by, another life is snuffed out, and this world feels darker and more insurmountable.

But music and art can be the vehicle through which we can have a conversation ⏤ and save lives and deconstruct the stigma in the process. Americana trio The Deep Hollow tell a tale of a green-eyed girl named Anna who commits suicide with “Anna’s Gone,” a delicate ballad from their new album, Weary Traveler. Teaming up with B-Sides & Badlands, the group has compiled an accompanying playlist around such overwhelming pain, including songs from Death Cab for Cutie, Jason Isbell, Blues Traveler and more.

Below, bandmate Dave Littrell breaks down his playlist inclusions:

“What Sarah Said” by Death Cab For Cutie

Ben Gibbard uses senses and imagery in such a brilliant way that it feels like you are sitting right with him in the hospital, and that’s something I was aiming for with “Anna’s Gone.” “As I stared at my shoes in the ICU that reeked of piss and 409 / Amongst the vending machines and year-old magazines in a place where we only say goodbye / And I looked around at all the eyes on the ground as the TV entertained itself / ‘Cause there’s no comfort in the waiting room / Just nervous pacers bracing for bad news.”

“Anna’s Gone” by The Deep Hollow

Even though the title “Anna’s Gone” is a slight give away, I did not want to reveal that Anna dies too early in the song. A listener may interpret it is a relationship gone bad, and I am simply missing a lost love. It allows the listener to walk along with me and then feel the weight of her loss later in the song.

“Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” by Jeff Buckley

While regret and coping with the suicide of someone close to you are main themes in “Anna’s Gone,” yearning is, as well. The narrator wants nothing more than to love (and be loved by) Anna. Anna knows this and doesn’t allow him to get too close because she is dealing with her own pain and hopes to avoid hurting him. “We’d get lost in the woods drinking whiskey from a paper cup / I never told her I loved her, but she suspected as much / Tried my best to hide it, but with a wink and a brush of my cheek ‘It’s ok sweetie your secret’s safe with me’.” These themes are on full display all over this masterpiece by Buckley. We can feel Buckley’s yearning, and that power of regret is heartbreaking.

“So I’ll wait for you and I’ll burn Will I ever see your sweet return / Or, will I ever learn? Lover, you should’ve come over / My kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder / All my riches for her smiles When I slept so soft against her / All my blood for the sweetness of her laughter / She is the tear that hangs inside my soul forever”

“Elephant” by Jason Isbell

“Elephant” is one of those songs that changes you as a songwriter. I remember being absolutely gutted listening to it for the first time. While the sadness of cancer weighs heavy throughout and looms over the entire song, Isbell focuses on Andy’s relationship in the song, and that is what moves me the most.

“These Days” by Jackson Browne

This particular version is perfect because the stripped down, acoustic guitar and vocal arrangement is all this song needs. It’s a good reminder that a well-written song doesn’t always need much more than that. And while he wrote this song so many years ago, hearing him play this as an older man gives more credence to the loss and regret in the lyrics.

“Pink Moon” by Nick Drake

This understated sparse arrangement of acoustic, piano, and soft vocals is my favorite of Nick Drake’s. I love when a song sounds like the emotions it evokes. Depression and suicide are certainly intertwined, and Nick Drake is often cited as one of those taken too soon by depression. He was only 26 years old, and I wonder what other beautiful songs he would have written had he been helped. I can picture Anna listening to this in her college dorm room, as she fell victim to the suffocating black cloud and tried to cope with her own depression.

“100 Years” by Blues Traveler

The recurring lyric “it won’t mean a thing in a hundred years” is something we all think about. So much thought, effort, and anxiety go into the minutiae of our everyday lives. But in the end does anything really matter in the grand scheme of things? This is a spiraling, nagging thought Anna constantly mulled over. She says “life can be beautiful but, man, life can sure be cruel,” hinting at past abuses. She also says, “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” A dichotomy exists in her inner self. She wants to soak up everything life has to offer while at the same time struggles to find any meaning in her life.

“Black Star” by Gillian Welch

This is one of those covers that gives the song a whole new life. I love Radiohead, but this version of “Black Star” blew me away more immediately than the original version. I’ve always been blown away by David Rawlings’ guitar playing, especially the solo on this recording. I think some of his influence made its way into the guitar sounds on “Anna’s Gone.”

“Dear John” by Ryan Adams

I’ve always loved Ryan Adams’ Follow the Lights EP. I’m a sucker for great acoustic guitar sounds, and I think the acoustic guitars are captured beautifully on this EP. The solo on “Dear John” is a great example – not just the tasteful playing but the beautiful tone. Given the similarities in subject matter in “Dear John” and “Anna’s Gone,” this was one of the first songs I thought of for this list.

“Twilight” by Elliott Smith

The first couple of lines in “Twilight” floor me every time: “I haven’t laughed this hard in a long time / I better stop now before I start crying.” It’s a sentiment that I think Anna may have related to.

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