“Well, so long baby/I’ve had enough/I can’t ignore it/I miss you so much.” These are the opening lines to “Shut Me Down,” a poignant composition from the late Rowland S. Howard, who passed away in Melbourne on December 30^th, 2009. Nearly two months later, listening to the song still sends waves of heartbreaking emotion down my spine. Those very words describe exactly how I feel about the painfully underrated musician. His second solo album, Pop Crimes, had only been released two months before and then suddenly, with a soft final breath, Howard signed off for good. He lost the battle with liver cancer that he had been fighting for a long time.

Ten years ago, a truly amazing gem of a record and the first one penned under his own name, Teenage Snuff Film, was quietly unveiled. Like all of his previous albums, including those with These Immortal Souls, Crime and the City Solution and The Birthday Party, it thoroughly blew me over. I couldn’t understand why Nick Cave was fairly popular and how his old right-hand man continued to be a cult act at best. Once again, after a decade of wondering what he had been up to, Pop Crimes whispered its way into existence. It is a resigned and somber opus, which is no wonder, yet his vocals and playing sound as healthy as ever. It also features ex-Bad Seed and Birthday Party cohort, Mick Harvey, on drums and organ.

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