Andrew McMahon’s dazzling songwriting has always been rooted in honesty. From the angst filled youth of Something Corporate, to the existential musings of Jack’s Mannequin, and again now as Andrew McMahon in The Wilderness, he’s consistently shown an uncanny ability to tap into a higher melodic frequency. That independent, authentic spirit has captured the imagination of fans around the world for the past two decades and recently helped him reach new career highs on the airwaves and on the road.
The follow up to 2017’s Zombies on Broadway, Upside Down Flowers’ 11 songs are slice-of-life vignettes animated by McMahon’s vivid lyrics and dynamic melodies. From Upside Down Flowers’ album cover—an iconic ‘60s-’70s SoCal pool scene with twist (inspired by jet-set photographer Slim Aarons), the songs and concept are at once fully realized while retaining a vivid sense of both the natural and unnatural. “I have so much emotion wrapped up in this album,” states McMahon, “Upside Down Flowers is a version of real and surreal Southern California that surrounds me physically and emotionally.”
Upside Down Flowers was produced by Butch Walker (Pink, Weezer, Panic! At The Disco) who also plays drums, bass and guitar on the album. In addition, the album features guest keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (Beck), and strings arranged by Emmy-winning, Tony & Grammy nominated composer Rob Mathes and recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
“It was just this breath of fresh air to go ‘Here’s a bunch of songs I wrote on my piano,” stated McMahon. Here’s this great producer. And the two of us are gonna play everything and sing everything.’ We would get into the weeds on the songs, yet the process was this really fast, kind of beautiful thing.”
“The thing I tell people often is that when you write great songs, you can record them in any style or production aesthetic and it will still be a great song,” said Walker. “This is Andrew with his songwriting craft. I’m glad to call him a friend and proud of the music we made together.”
