Cameron Boucher’s covers collection from earlier this month demonstrated just how much emotion the Sorority Noise frontman can wring out of little, and “XC” is further proof of what the band can do when pared back from the operatic swings of their most recent full-length, Joy, Departed. Their upcoming EP, It Kindly Stopped For Me — which also features “Either Way” — is largely a stopgap experiment in delicacy to tide us over until whatever the group’s next step may be, but it’s a welcome one: The keys on this thing? Ugh. Talk about saving indie rock.

“I do a lot of driving when we’re on tour, probably about 85 percent of it, because it keeps my mind distracted and I get motion sick,” Boucher explained to The Fader. “I was doing an overnight drive this fall and was thinking about my friend who had taken his life this summer, about how quickly death can come, and kinda just wrote this song via a voice memo, just talking about the lyrics while everyone else slept. My dear friends Olivia and Michi, who have been friends of mine since we were 16, were able to sing on this song with me and I am so incredibly grateful for that.” Listen below.

It Kindly Stopped For Me is out 4/22 via Topshelf Records.