When Good Night Moon decided to revisit the songs they wrote at 15 and 16 years old, the goal wasn’t nostalgia. In fact, it was risk.
“Revisiting lyrics you wrote as a kid is a little daunting,” vocalist JB Corey admits. “You remember yourself one way, but then you realize…you were really just a kid.”
That realization led to hard decisions. Some songs didn’t survive the revamp process. Some of them felt too tied to youth, some felt too specific to a moment that no longer translated. But five songs made the cut. And those songs became Good Night Moon, the band’s self-titled EP. The EP drops on streaming services on January 23, 2026 and will be their first release in nearly 20 years.
“These songs didn’t feel young,” Corey says. “They still felt heavy. Maybe they were originally about a high school crush or breakup, but the emotional truth still holds. At 36, it feels different, but it still feels right.”
Same Lyrics, New Meaning
Throughout the interview, Corey returns to the idea that time didn’t erase the meaning of the songs, it just layered it. Lyrics once written through the lens of teenage heartbreak now resonate through adulthood, shaped by work, marriage, stress, and responsibility.
He points to the song “Hercules Heel” and its line “I need support, bridges I built fall too quickly.”
“At 16, that probably meant something totally different,” he explains. “Now, it’s about needing support before everything crumbles…trying to build something, feeling like it’s all going to fall apart.”
Those moments are scattered throughout the EP, giving the songs a gravity they didn’t yet have when they were first written.
Reimagining—Not Replacing—the Sound
Musically, drummer Rob Clark approached the re-recordings with a simple question: What still works and what deserves to be better?
While flying from Orlando to Los Angeles, Clark revisited the old material with fresh ears, pulling apart each track to preserve its foundation while updating the production.
“We tried to pluck out our favorite pieces and keep the core intact,” he says. “Then we modernized it with different guitar layers, subtle synths underneath, things we didn’t have access to 20 years ago.”
Despite the modern tools, the band was deliberate about keeping the performances human. Every drum part was played live. Every guitar track was real. No AI-generated performances. No shortcuts.
Ironically, one of the biggest challenges was physical.
“I forgot the physicality of playing this kind of music,” Clark laughs. “I was in a lot better shape at 16 playing these tempos. Tracking drums again was a real cardio wake-up call.”
A Florida Scene That Never Let Go
Much of Good Night Moon’s identity and this EP comes directly from South Florida’s early-2000s music scene, which the band repeatedly describes as a once-in-a-lifetime environment.
West Palm Beach, in particular, became an unlikely epicenter for emo, punk, and post-hardcore. Touring bands from New Jersey and New York routinely started their East Coast runs there, giving local bands the chance to share stages with artists who would later define a generation.
“We were playing with bands like New Found Glory, Dashboard Confessional, Paramore, and Plain White T’s before they were huge,” Corey recalls. “That scene gave small bands a real opportunity.” And it is an opportunity that they are still thankful for today.
These bands weren’t background noise in a bar setting. They were the event. All-ages crowds packed clubs, churches, warehouses, and houses. Genre didn’t matter. Everyone stayed for every band.
“That chaos shaped our sound,” Corey says. “We were never just punk, or hardcore, or emo. South Florida was a mishmash and so were we.”
A Full-Circle Production Team
True to that spirit, the band kept this project rooted in the same community. The EP was produced by Matt Marino (Fame on Fire, MGK) and Ian Marchionda (Suck Brick Kid, Superbloom), mixed by Aaron Marsh of Copeland, and mastered by Jonathan Berlin (Underoath, Anberlin).
Many of those collaborators came from the same Florida scene Good Night Moon grew up in.
“These are guys we knew when we were kids,” Clark says. “Now they’re working at the highest levels of the industry, but they understand this music because they lived it.”
Not a Comeback—An Opening
Despite the long absence, the band doesn’t view this release as a reunion or a closing chapter.
“It feels like an elevator door opening on a different floor,” Corey explains. “This band has always been there. It’s time to step out again.”
That step has already led to Good Night Moon’s first live shows in over a decade, with release performances set for April 17 at Swampgrass Willie’s (Palm Beach Gardens) and April 18 at Will’s Pub (Orlando), joined by Five Cent Wish and Northvale.
On a personal level, the return has brought music back into Corey’s home entirely.
“Two years ago, I didn’t even own a guitar,” he says. “Now I’m teaching my kids chords, they know the lyrics, and I even played a Taylor Swift cover onstage with my daughter at her school talent show.”
Why This EP Matters Now
As guitar-driven music experiences a broader resurgence, Good Night Moon’s return feels uniquely timed but not in a manufactured way.
“These songs were made in the 2000s,” Corey says. “They shared stages with bands from that era. Hopefully people looking for that sound can hear this and be transported back.”
For longtime fans, the EP is a reconnection.
For new listeners, it’s a reminder that authenticity doesn’t age.
Pre-save the EP here.
Good Night Moon’s self-titled EP arrives January 23, 2026.