“Back to Back” is a tuneful, infectious song, a folk framework with a rock backbone. It’s far from the heaviness of a Thrice song, but it once again proves there are two distinct sides to Kensrue’s writing. For those who have been paying attention to his solo work since 2007’s Please Come Home, the forthcoming album – titled Carry The Fire – should be a welcome addition to that lineage. And it’s got some heavy themes. Kensrue tells Billboard:

Much of our experience in this life is defined by some degree of suffering. Because of this, sometimes to love someone well means simply sitting with them in their suffering, entering into that suffering with them without offering hollow aphorisms, minimizations, or easy fixes. And this is true in the big things as well as the seemingly small. Whether someone didn’t get the job they were hoping for or whether they just found out they have three months to live, our love is truly shown as we weep with those that weep. For a deeper dive into what’s been on Kensrue’s mind, Carry The Fire drops April 21 via Staple Records and Vagrant Records.

And what about a Thrice reunion? The Kensrue-fronted band has been on hiatus since 2012, but placed an image reading “Thrice 2015” on its official Tumblr in Dec. 2014. They’ve given no news since; what could they have up their sleeves?”