As Denver pop group, the Fray, finishes up a fourth album due out this year, the band’s rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist, Joe King has announced a new solo project called KING.

King told Hitfix.com that after his divorce and in between Fray albums, he decided the time was right for a solo effort.

“Making this album became this self-discovery thing,” King told Hitfix. “It’s about loving the beginnings of something, the flirtatiousness and that energy.”

While King steps out on his own, he’s doing so with help from some of Denver’s best known local and national musicians. Patrick Meese of Tennis and Meese, Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and Nathaniel Rateliff of Born in the Flood all helped out on tracks.

“I did all of my vocals at [Tedder’s] place. He’s like Nathaniel. They’ll play something for you and it’ll just kinda kick your ass. They’ll show you what they’re working on and you’ll be like, ‘F*ck, I gotta step up my game,’” King told Hitfix.

He has a five-song, untitled EP planned for this spring and is shopping the material around to labels.

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