The Upsides Find Their Way Through “In the Maze”

The Upsides recorded In the Maze at The Building, a converted church in Marlboro, New York, then spent five more months shaping it in Pat Freeman’s Brooklyn studio. You can hear that patience in the credits alone. Austin Asvanonda, who has worked with Sam Fender and The War on Drugs, mixed it. Steve Fallone mastered it. Nick Perri added production, and Richard Jones and Laura Moody of Elysian Collective arranged the strings. B. Miles sings on the closer, “Sepia.”

Their 2024 self-titled debut leaned into ’90s guitar pop. This one is heavier and more layered, eleven songs about the stuff that piles up once you are a real adult. The band picked three words to describe it, and the first one fits best: bold.

Brothers Matt Fullam (vocals, guitar) and Dan Fullam (drums) grew up in Randolph, New Jersey, alongside bassist Matt DaSilva. Hart Mechlin plays lead guitar, and Pat Freeman covers keys and guitar. They write like old friends, which is what they are, and the best stories on the record come straight out of their lives.

The title track started with Dan’s fight with a hostile landlord. He wrote the opening line half-asleep, listening to an argument downstairs. “New Jersey in the 90s” goes somewhere much tenderer. It remembers a neighbor’s father who was lost on 9/11, and both brothers cried the first time Matt sang its final lines. A band that can hold both of those songs on one record knows exactly who it is.

Start with the title track, then “New Jersey in the 90s,” and let “Sepia” close the night. The Upsides made a record about feeling lost, and somehow it leaves you feeling a little more found.