In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has released his first solo music in four years. The title track, “Pass You By,” and “It Can’t Come Too Soon” are all on McKagan’s three-song EP This Is the Song. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, McKagan, 59, finished building his own recording studio, which allowed him to work much more quickly on both old and new ideas. After spending months alone, he discovered that his mental health was deteriorating, and those themes are prevalent on the brand-new EP, which was produced by Martin Feveyear.

This Is The Song, McKagan’s first new solo album in nearly four years, follows his critically acclaimed sophomore solo album, Tenderness, which was hailed by Rolling Stone in a three-and-a-half (out of four) star review as “an album full of beauty and heart…It’s conscious music with heavy songs and a light touch.