Thanks to a certain Volkswagen commercial, we (should) all know who Nick Drake was. The melancholy English folk singer died young and wrote his fate in the lyrics of the song “Fruit Tree”:

Safe in your place deep in the earth
That’s when they’ll know what you were really worth

In a semi-revealing new biography, former BBC Music head Trevor Dann traces Drake’s path from a seemingly charmed childhood to his lazy, drug-addled days at Cambridge and final tortured years as a recording artist with Island Records. Though reverential toward the music, Dann steers clear of romanticizing the musician himself. Drawing on new interviews with Drake’s friends and associates, he writes of a withdrawn young man whose dismal album sales only exacerbated his depression. Dead from a Tryptizol overdose at age 26, Drake would never know the celebration his work enjoys today. It’s a tragic tale, but Darker than the Deepest Sea tells it straight up — and the Nick Drake of this story isn’t a hero for anything but his music. Which is probably how it should be.