AGOURA HILLS, Calif. -- Chris Cornell has a new album out that's so toned down he said it's meant to be played in the bathroom on his acoustic guitar.

"Higher Truth" isn't grunge or his typical rock 'n' roll, its songs tell stories with guitars, carefully crafted arrangements and, of course, his strong, raspy voice.

"'Higher Truth' is sort of a longtime coming in terms of wanting to do an album that was oriented in the direction of acoustic songs, where the arrangements are acoustic first," Cornell said in a recent interview.

The album, his fifth solo record, was released last month. The performer admitted that every lyric on the album meant something to him personally.

"One of the songs, 'Josephine,' I actually wrote when I first met my wife, Vicky, and sang it to her over the phone, and I felt like there was this perfect song in there that I wanted to express and this is going on 12 years ago," Cornell said.

The 51-year-old, who is currently on tour, said he's found a happy balance between his solo efforts and writing music for Soundgarden, though the band isn't rushing to release new material.

"Since 2010, when we started working again as a band, the only rule we had was we don't have a calendar," Cornell said. "It takes exactly the same amount of time it always did, we are just not blowing deadlines anymore because we don't have any (deadlines). We might even work a little bit faster."