Ed was once asked why he sings about such dark subject matter and his response, which I'm paraphrasing, was something like that if you give yourself a way to express these emotions, maybe you can make some sense of them. By giving them a name and a shape and a rhythm you can maybe even gain some perspective or even mastery over them. Or maybe at least you won't feel quite as alone. That's was this music does for us. And beyond that internal relationship to the music, you discover this giant, wonderful community of people that somehow loves them just as deeply as you do. First you connect with the songs, the heart, the musicianship, and then you connect with everyone else who feels that same way too. As Ed sang at Pinkpop while scanning that vast, mud soaked crowd during Porch "it's a beautiful thing".