New York indie rock band The Upsides have shared ‘New Jersey in the 90s’, the fourth single from their second album ‘In The Maze’, out October 16 via Dream Wolf Records.

The song goes back to Matt and Dan Fullam’s childhood in New Jersey and, in particular, to the family who lived next door to them. Their neighbour’s father was killed on 9/11, and the family later moved away. For Matt, the song is less about the event itself than the way certain memories continue to sit with you long after childhood has passed.

“It’s less a story about that event and that particular day, and more about how difficult it is to make sense of certain things in your past while acknowledging how profound of an impact they had on you,” he says.

There is a strange distance in the song between the warmth of looking back and the things that were already beginning to change around them.

“Even though we were super young, looking back now there was a shift that happened, a death to the innocence of our earlier childhood, which still always seems to have an amber glow to it,” Fullam explains.

‘New Jersey in the 90s’ took a while to reach its final form. The band went through several versions and were still making changes while the album was being mixed, eventually rerecording the bass at The War on Drugs’ One Cue Recording studio in Burbank. Fullam jokingly calls it their “Drugs-iest song yet.”

The Upsides began work on ‘In The Maze’ only a month after releasing their self-titled debut in 2024. Matt and Dan Fullam and guitarist Hart Mechlin spent ten days in Parksville, New York, writing and trying out ideas before the full band later recorded at The Building, a converted church in Marlboro, New York.

The album was mixed by Austin Asvanonda, with additional production from Nick Perri and mastering by Steve Fallone. Richard Jones and Laura Moody of Elysian Collective contributed string arrangements.

The Upsides are Matt Fullam on guitar and vocals, Dan Fullam on drums, Hart Mechlin on lead guitar, Pat Freeman on keyboards and guitar, and Matt DaSilva on bass.

Headline photo: Alex Brown

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