Jump5 founding members Brandon and Brittany Hargest recently announced the formation of their new pop/rock venture, guest.

Having dedicated almost a decade to the dance-pop/contemporary tween phenomenon Jump5, which disbanded last fall after selling more than 1.4 million albums, brother-sister duo Brandon and Brittany Hargest will continue to pursue their musical passion via a new outlet.

"Jump5 was one of the best experiences of my life...it's the reason I am who I am today," says Brittany. "But Brandon and I knew that Jump5 wouldn't last forever, so about two years ago we came up with the idea of making music together. We both love straight-up, piano-based music, and we were ready for a change."

Brandon comments, "I have been writing eagerly for the past 6 or 7 years, hoping to be able to perform music that came from us. We are very excited about the opportunity to move on and do what we want as musicians."

Recently, the duo has been writing with Aaron Rice (TobyMac, Mandisa, Jump5) and Jamie Moore (TobyMac, Ayeisha Woods, Stephanie Smith), among other prominent songwriters. An EP release is tentatively scheduled for late summer.

"Our goal is to create music that we enjoy while hopefully entertaining those who want to listen," says Brandon. As always, we want to continue to reach people with our music, but ultimately, we love what we do, and we just want to play good music."