When Joe King, Ben Wysocki, and Dave Welsh of The Fray take the wide view of the band’s nearly 25-year career, they see a whole lot of stars in the sky — some representing songs that have arrived and made their mark, and others that have yet to come. The multi-platinum-selling group are ready to add a few more with their new album A Light That Waits, The Fray’s first full-length release in more than a decade and the first with the group’s core three members cowriting every track.

“I see this album as a constellation,” says King, The Fray’s vocalist and guitarist. “These songs already existed and we just had to capture them. Now, you can see them in the sky, and they’re all illuminating, along with our other songs that are out there. They’re part of the same sky. This isn’t a reinvention of The Fray. It’s a new season.”

Produced by The Fray with Jason Suwito, who oversaw the bulk of the album’s 11 tracks, plus Ryan Linvill, who produced two, A Light That Waits is a record of hopeful energy. King seizes his moment as frontman, his reassuring voice cascading over songs like the euphoric title track and the empowering “Ice Cold Lakes,” while Wysocki’s drums give The Fray their irrepressible heart and Welsh’s lead guitar summons ethereal soundscapes. It’s the sound of a band fully confident in their creative powers.

“This is where we are in life. It is a season, and it’s true and honest,” King says. “And that’s what we’ve always done: write what’s true. We didn’t know what existed for this band three years ago, but we have seen ourselves clearly again.”

“We could have hung it up, and I think we all contemplated that, but we have more stories about life to tell,” adds Welsh. “And we had to respect what we had earned from fans. I heard it phrased once by somebody that plays tennis, that you have to respect the spirit of the player. We’ve earned a seat at the table with a lot of people, and to not do it just because you’re tired wasn’t an option. We owe it to both the life that happens in us and to the people that have listened to us and asked for more. And so, A Light That Waits is more.”

But it’s also intentional. Each of the songs is crafted with both care and a heavy dose of faith in the process. In some cases, The Fray assembled in Wysocki’s studio in Denver and began improvising, confident that their decades-long chemistry would guide them.

It didn’t let them down.

“There are a lot of different ways that these songs came into existence, but there was always a big sense of discovery with each,” Wysocki says. “It’s like that scene in the Indiana Jones movie where the stone doesn’t appear before you until you take the step. When we believed and took the step, the path revealed itself. There were a couple of days in the studio where we started from complete scratch, and that was really vulnerable.”

“A Light That Waits” was born from one of those no-guardrails sessions. Gathered behind their instruments, the band members began noodling. Soon, a groove for the verses materialized, followed by chorus and a structure for the song. The track also gave The Fray the album’s theme: one of an unfailing light that guides your way.

“We think the sun goes away, but it really doesn’t leave,” says King, who provides the album with its most soul-baring, heart-rending moment in “Let Me Go First,” a song about the death of his mother. The track, while emotionally taxing for them to record, further cemented The Fray’s bond as friends. “Music’s healing for all of us — the listener, the writer, and the artist,” he adds.

Something similar happened while writing “Still Got You.” A track manifested from a raw voice memo of King’s, it was a callback to the early days of the band.

As soon as Wysocki and Welsh heard King’s snippet, they latched onto it. The result was a new song that felt comfortingly familiar. “I’ve been hearing Joe’s demos for 20 years, and even though this is a new chapter of The Fray, we’re the same people,” Wysocki says. “That was very grounding in a way: ‘Oh yeah, I recognize this. I know that guy.’ It was exciting, and the whole room responding and resonating with that song was a little burst of energy for everybody in the process.”

After a wildly successful 2025 tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band’s quadruple-platinum-selling debut How to Save a Life, and its hit songs like “Over My Head (Cable Car),” “Looks After You,” and the juggernaut RIAA Diamond-certified title track, The Fray are eager to return to the road in 2026 in support of A Light That Waits. They’ll do so on a joint tour with Dashboard Confessional and on their own headlining run, each date a celebration of a band and a catalog that continues to bring light to audiences.

“We have such great memories of touring in the summer. The vibe for us and for the fans is something that we’ve all really connected with and had a good time with over the history of The Fray,” Wysocki says. “Getting these new songs in front of people is going to be exciting.”

A Light That Waits wraps up with a song inspired by King’s recent sojourn to the Pacific Coast, where he spent his days writing songs and watching the cormorants come in from the sea to roost. In telling the story of that song, “Sea Level Drive,” he can’t help but further illuminate the story of exactly where The Fray is today.

“These birds would land in a tree and spread their wings to let the sun dry them with all its light and warmth. I was trying to imagine what their day was like: They’re underwater, fighting all the elements, looking for sustenance. I found myself connecting with that,” he says. “We’re all struggling day in and day out, and we have to do it again tomorrow. But there’s this hope at the end of it, that you get to dry your wings in the light and that gets you ready for the next day.”

Or as The Fray like to say, the new season.