Songwriter and poet David Berman passed away on 7 August aged 52. In May of this year, Berman launched his new project Purple Mountains, and released their self-titled debut album on 12 July via Drag City.

Berman and the founder of Jagjaguwar, Darius Van Arman, became good friends in Charlottesville, Virginia in the mid '90s.

In a note posted on their site, they write, "So when it came time to pen a longform biography for Jagjaguwar, it only made sense to reach out to one of our greatest writers for a sentence or two on those early days. David said he would be happy to write up a little memory, but then some weeks passed as we would delicately nag for our quotes. Then, one day this arrives, a story/poem gem just for us. It’s been passed around this office again and again. And yesterday, we read it again with tears rolling out our eyes. David was a real one, an irreplaceable mind and soul. Felt like this piece of his was worth sharing with all of you today as we collectively mourn his passing. Take care of one another."

The closing section of Berman's poem reads, "i am not qualified to say, but i theorize that jagjaguwar is a plant and not an animal / From there we can rule out grasses, flowers, and weeds since they have such short lifespans / Tonight I believe Jagjaguwar is a tree."