Gratitude can appear at random, it’s not a consequence of any fixed situation. It’s not tied to any one holiday, such as Thanksgiving or Christmas. It’s a feeling that often gets overlooked in the chaos of daily life, only presenting itself in the silence of solitude. But once the root of the feeling is acknowledged, suddenly, a bright, big network, like flying over a city at night, of appreciation spreads.

In “Hallelujah,” an introspective, ballad co-written by HAIM and musician/songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr., the three sisters who make up the band consider their fortunate bond.

“We’ve always wanted to write a song about our bond as sisters,” says Danielle Haim.

As a song, their bond was described in patient acoustic rhythms with an Americana influence. However grateful the sisters are for each other, gratitude is always insidiously weaved with traces of loss. “Hallelujah” differs from their usual up-beat, pop-synth oriented sound. In each verse, the three sisters confront their individual losses. For Alana, it was losing a best friend.

“It was a loss that changed my life forever. Sammi was my everything, and coming to terms with the fact that she wasn’t here, that I couldn’t call her, I couldn’t hug her, I would never see her bright smile and sparkling eyes ever again broke me,” Alana shared in an Instagram post.

Este’s verse pictures life without her loved ones after finding out some negative news from a doctor.

“To me it’s a song about relying on the people around you and reflecting on how different life could be if those people weren’t around,” Este shared in an Instagram post. “I wrote my verse a few days after I’d gotten some pretty terrible news from my endocrinologist. around that time I wasn’t paying attention to my health and ignoring warning signs of a bigger issue than just my type 1 diabetes.”

Danielle brought it back to her bond with her sisters claiming that “sister telepathy is a real thing,” in an Instagram post announcing the song. With lyrics such as, “Why me, how’d I get this Hallelujah?” the sisters remind listeners that where there is darkness there is always light.

The release of the song was accompanied by a music video directed by Paul Thomas Anderson.