Koyo are back with the announcement of their sophomore studio album “Barely Here” arriving on May 8th, 2026, via Pure Noise Records. Clocking in at ten songs in just 28 minutes, “Barely Here” is a lean blast of incredibly anthemic punk.
All of the band’s familiar Long Island DNA is there (the firecracker guts of The Movielife, the widescreen hooks of Taking Back Sunday, the tuneful grit of Silent Majority) but the sound of Koyo themselves shines through more than ever.
To mark the announcement the band have shared the album’s lead single, “Irreversible” a revved up cut of huge guitars and melodies to match. It’s the perfect introduction to Koyo’s next chapter and sure to inspire singalongs on the band’s truly packed 2026 touring schedule.
Koyo’s debut full-length, “Would You Miss It?” drew acclaim from listeners and critics alike for their unabashedly heart-on-sleeve blend of punk, hardcore, and emo, and now “Barely Here” hones that combination even further. “A lot of bands think their second album has to be this magnum opus epic that sews so many things together, and I think we’d actually taken more of that approach with our first LP”, explains vocalist Joey Chiaramonte. “So with ‘Barely Here’ we wanted to do the opposite of that trajectory–we wanted to refine our strengths instead of doing this purposeful departure. It’s a snapshot of what our band is in its most no-frills, perfected form”.
Produced, engineered, and mixed by longtime collaborator Jon Markson (Drug Church, Drain, The Story So Far), and featuring guest appearances from Sammy Ciaramitaro of Drain and Marisa Shirar of Fleshwater, “Barely Here” sounds like a confident band who know exactly what they want to make and excel at making it.
Pre-order “Barely Here” here.
Tracklist:
1. Barely Here
2. Jet Stream Wish
3. Saying Vs Meaning (feat. Sammy Ciaramitaro)
4. It Happens to the Best of Us
5. You Hate Me
6. Selden Mansions
7. Oxidize (feat. Marisa Shirar)
8. What I’m Worth
9. Pace and Loiter
10. Irreversible
Koyo have will be celebrating “Barely Here” with another round of truly relentless touring, starting with a lengthy run of UK/EU shows with Arm’s Length, followed by North American runs with Rise Against, Hot Mulligan, Joyce Manor, and more. See full itinerary below.
UK & European Tour Dates 2026:
02/05 Southhampton, UK @ Engine Rooms *
02/06 London, UK @ O2 Academy Islington *
02/07 Manchester, UK @ Club Academy *
02/09 Glasgow, UK @ The Garage *
02/10 Newcastle, UK @ The Grove *
02/12 Liverpool, UK @ District *
02/13 Leeds, UK @ Project House *
02/14 Birmingham, UK @ O2 Academy 2 *
02/15 Kingston, UK @ Fighting Cocks *
02/18 Antwerp, BE @ Trix Club *
02/19 Eindhoven, NL @ Dynamo *
02/20 Cologne, DE @ Gebäude 9 *
02/21 Hamburg, DE @ Logo *
* (w/ Arm’s Length, Ben Quad, Shoreline)
There are few things more appealing in music than hearing a band who are unabashedly being themselves. It’s a harder feat than you might expect–avoiding contrivance or overthinking while still pouring everything into the art–and it only gets harder as a band progresses. On their sophomore album, “Barely Here”, Koyo were more than up for the challenge. It’s the kind of album that feels completely instinctual, an airtight blend of emo melodicism and hardcore ferocity where every note is permeated with passion and personality. It’s the sound of a band not only coming into their own, but owning it.
Koyo–vocalist Joseph Chiaramonte, guitarists Harold Griffin and TJ Rotolico, bassist Stephen Spanos, and drummer Salvatore Argento–emerged from the Long Island, NY, underground and quickly earned themselves a reputation for putting their own spin on the sound of their hometown’s legendary music scene. Their 2023 debut album, “Would You Miss It?”, propelled the band into a whirlwind of worldwide touring that never really stopped. When it came time to make their second album, Koyo found themselves trying to squeeze the writing process in between lengthy tours–even demoing songs from their RV on the road to prepare for the looming recording sessions. Rather than crack under the pressure, the group rose to the occasion by trusting that they’d developed into a well-oiled machine and allowing the songwriting to become completely intuitive. “I think we’d learned so much about our process from making ‘Would You Miss It?’ that we knew exactly what we wanted going into this one and it came together with more of an instinctual kind of magic to it”, explains Chiaramonte. “A lot of bands think their second album has to be this magnum opus epic that sews so many things together, and I think we’d actually taken more of that approach with our first LP. So with ‘Barely Here’ we wanted to do the opposite of that trajectory–we wanted to refine our strengths instead of doing this purposeful departure. It’s a snapshot of what our band is in its most no-frills, perfected form”.
Produced, engineered, and mixed by longtime collaborator Jon Markson (Drug Church, Drain, The Story So Far), “Barely Here” is a lean 10-song, 28-minute blast of incredibly anthemic punk. The band’s familiar Long Island DNA is there–the firecracker guts of The Movielife, the widescreen hooks of Taking Back Sunday, the tuneful grit of Silent Majority–but the sound of Koyo themselves shines through more than ever, a confident band who know exactly what they want to make and excel at making it. “We definitely don’t spend as much time talking about our influences anymore”, says Chiaramonte. “We just know what kind of band we are and do what comes naturally”.
But the assuredness of Koyo’s music didn’t happen overnight, it was hard-earned through those years of intensive touring and the variable lives of full-time musicians. Many of Chiaramonte’s lyrics on “Barely Here” explore the confusion and disillusionment of being so mentally and physically unmoored. “We played hundreds of shows, and amidst that a lot of life happens back home and a lot is happening around you that you have no control over–and you just have to live with that”, he explains. “I feel very grateful for how things have gone with our band but with that you miss a lot of things and you’re also subject to a lot of disappointment when you see how things operate behind the curtain. It puts your head in a weird place to feel powerless in all of it. You can lose your sense of what you’re doing and why”.
Tracks like the adrenaline rush opening salvo of “Barely Here” and “Jet Stream Wish” address the dissatisfaction and distance, with Chiaramonte’s melodic roar still sounding defiant against his circumstances. “I have a real sincere gratitude for what’s happened for us but I don’t want to pretend I’ve been in this awesome headspace the whole time”, he says. “There’s a lot of isolation and misplaced shame for choosing this kind of life”. Chiaramonte delves into these ideas on tracks like the fiery “Saying Vs Meaning” which features guest vocals from Drain’s Sammy Ciaramitaro, or the propulsive “You Hate Me”. On “Oxidize” (a driving duet with Fleshwater’s Marisa Shirar), the challenges back home take on a very real weight as Chiaramonte describes wanting to find more time with his grandmother as she deals with dementia.
Late in the album Chiaramonte brings all of his frustration to a head with “What I’m Worth”, a two-minute exorcism of negativity overtop of brooding chord changes that push Koyo’s sound into post-hardcore territory. The track is immediately followed by “Pace and Loiter”, a ray of light that breaks through the dark clouds with one of the biggest choruses Koyo have ever crafted–no small accomplishment for a band regularly trafficking in huge choruses. Its lyrics find Chiaramonte saving himself from the brink by appreciating moments where everything feels right. “It’s about those times when you really lock in and you’re surrounded by people you care about”, he says. “Those times when everyone’s just shooting the shit, everything gets shut off and the worst things all disappear–it’s so intangibly perfect. They’re so finite and I wish I could just catch that in a bottle and enjoy it forever”.
The making of “Barely Here” seems to have helped Chiaramonte process wild motion and upheaval from the past few years of his life, and ironically it’s also setting the stage for another round of non-stop touring. But this time he seems ready–better equipped to not only weather the chaos, but to also enjoy it more. “I think I’ve recently been able to lift my head up from the trenches and be like ‘hey we’re still here’”, he says. “I’m really grateful for that. I don’t think we’d ever want to be a band that overstayed our welcome and tried to force something to happen, we just want to do it as long as it feels right”.
Weblinks:
koyolihc.com
www.facebook.com/koyolihc
