Former Jodeci member Dalvin DeGrate's new album doesn't sound much like anything he did with his previous group.

But that's just fine with DeGrate, who said he loves confounding people.

"I didn't want to put out the kind of album that was a typical R&B record, so I didn't want to put it out on an R&B label," DeGrate said about his solo debut, Met.A.Mor.Phic, set for release April 18 on Madonna's label, Maverick.

Met.A.Mor.Phic opens with "I Got That," featuring acoustic guitars over a herky-jerky rhythm track, and as a whole possesses a more intense, urgent feel than even such sexually charged Jodeci singles as 1991's "Come and Talk to Me."

The 28-year-old DeGrate said he wanted to use his solo debut to explore a consistent theme that was more mature than the bad-boy come-ons Jodeci were known for.

"I wanted to talk about the upside and the pitfalls of being in love," he said. "I wanted to take the things I've gone through and seen my friends go through and make them come to life."

'I Wanted To Create Something Different'

The album's first single, "Why Can't We" (RealAudio excerpt), shows off DeGrate's acrobatic vocals, a style he honed while singing in the Pentecostal church in his hometown of Charlotte, N.C.

"Once you're in a gospel choir, it all comes easy," DeGrate said. He cites gospel/soul singer Sam Cooke alongside James Brown, Michael Jackson and The Artist as the biggest influences on his singing.

Producer/artist Stevie J, who has worked with Puff Daddy and Mariah Carey, produced "Why Can't We" and several other tracks on Met.A.Mor.Phic.

"I wanted to create something different that had a live feel to it but still kept you on the dance floor," Stevie J said.

"Why Can't We" features a funky, rumbling bassline and smooth chorus vocals that demonstrate DeGrate hasn't entirely left the Jodeci style behind. "That's still a part of me," he said.

'New Energy' Found Out West

DeGrate and his brother, DeVante, (born Donald DeGrate) grew up with a minister father and toured as gospel singers before they hooked up with JoJo Hailey and K-Ci Hailey (born Cedric Hailey) and formed Jodeci in the late 1980s. The four moved to New York, where they caught the ear of Uptown Records head Andre Harrell, who signed them to a record deal and released their first album, Forever My Lady, in 1991.

The album sold more than 3 million copies, and their 1993 follow-up, Diary of a Mad Band, also went platinum. They broke up after their 1995 album, The Show, the After Party, the Hotel, didn't do as well as their previous releases. DeGrate eventually moved from New York to Los Angeles, a move he said was crucial to the way the new album sounds.

"In New York, I got comfortable being who I was," he said. "I needed to get some new energy, and I found it in Los Angeles."

DeGrate worked with DeVante on the new album, which he said made the album better. "We're both perfectionists, and he made me sing everything over and over until we got it right," he said. "He knew and understood who I was and what I wanted to do, so there was no confusion."

DeGrate said he wants his new album to establish an identity for him separate from Jodeci, when he was known as "Mr. Dalvin." His selection of hard-rock group Def Leppard's 1987 hit "Love Bites" as the sole cover on Met.A.Mor.Phic was an outgrowth of his desire to give fans something in addition to what they expect.

"The last albums I bought were Whitesnake's greatest hits and Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet," he said, clearly enjoying the seeming incongruity with his music. "I love blasting Whitesnake in my convertible in L.A.," he said. "Everybody looks at me like, 'Man, that guy's crazy.' I like that."