Upside Down Flowers is the third studio album by American rock pianist Andrew McMahon, under the moniker Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, released on November 16, 2018. Background and production Vocalist/pianist Andrew McMahon released the second album under his Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness moniker, Zombies on Broadway, in February 2017. Its lead single "Fire Escape" became a top five charting-hit at alternative radio. He promoted it with tours of North America and Japan until Thanksgiving when he took his first long break in years. After renovating his Californian home, he had a studio area with his piano where he could write. He would often take his daughter to school and spend the rest of the day in his studio. He got into the groove of writing a new song every day and making voice memos of all of them. Though some of them lacked bridge sections; by Christmas he had nearly an album's worth of material. After showing his manager the material, McMahon contacted a friend of his, producer Butch Walker and asked if he wanted to work together. The following month, he went to Santa Monica and showed Walker the songs he had stockpiled and the pair went through them quickly. Unlike McMahon's previous two albums which featured multiple producers and co-writers, Upside Down Flowers was done solely with Walker, who McMahon had been wanting to work for those first two albums. Early on, the pair wanted the production to feel classic but modern at the same time. McMahon tracked piano and acceptable vocal takes; most of his time he spent waiting in the other room or return home and Walker was busy working on the songs. McMahon would come back the following day and work on Walker's edits and finish the songs from there. Walker played nearly every instrument on the album, including guitar, bass, drums, with the exception of keyboards. The string parts were arranged by Rob Mathes, and were recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, UK. Tracking lasted for 20–30 days before the recordings were sent for mixing. The name of the album may have been inspired by lyrics from a b-side called "Post Hawaii", which was released in September 2021, in McMahon's subscription-based fan club service, Camp Wilderness. Composition Upside Down Flowers takes its name from a song that didn't end up on the album. McMahon explained that it was "in a way,