Today, Christopher Owens, former frontman of indie rock band Girls, has shared “This Is My Guitar,” which is an intimate, confessional song that speaks to the emotional core of the artist’s upcoming album I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair. With gently strummed acoustics, Owens sings about losing everything but the power of music in helping him see past difficult times. Even at his lowest and in the depths of heartache, Owens sticks with his guitar.

Perhaps the most stripped down and emotionally bare song on this new album, “This is my guitar, I play it with my hands / It’s part of me, just like the song I sing” serves as a testament to the place songwriting has held throughout Owens‘s life. Production from Ariel Rechtshaid and Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Jacob Portrait elevate the song to a sweeping and melancholy affirmation.

While talking about his upcoming album, Owens says: “In the second half of the Bible, Jesus asks ‘What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?’ Lately, I’ve found it interesting to ask it in a different way. ‘What shall it profit a man, if he lose his whole world, and gain back his soul?’ And I think the answer would have to be something like The Kingdom of Heaven.”