Another Michael Break Down Their New Album Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down Track By Track

By Matt Mitchell  |  May 31, 2024 | 12:00pm
Photo by Juliette Boulay
Music Features Another Michael
Another Michael Break Down Their New Album Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down Track By Track
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It’s been a pretty good 12 months for Another Michael. The Philadelphia duo of Michael Doherty and Nick Sebastiano put out their last album in September, and they’ve already turned around with another one: Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down. This prolific streak isn’t some mark of having excess material, though. Doherty and Sebastiano are truly wrapped up in a remarkably good creative whirlwind. Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down mirrors the ambitions of Wishes to Fulfill while stretching the run-time out. The duo dabbles in everything from folk-rock nuggets (“I’m Your Roommate”), sugar-sweet melodies (“Hub of Dreams”), catchy harmonies (“Seafood”) and metallic post-punk (“I’ve Come Around to That”). You can hum this record in your head forever, as Another Michael make tunes that stick around. Given that they’ve released 21 songs in less than 10 months, you’d think they’re in some kind of hurry. But Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down confirms that the duo are taking their time.

Doherty and Sebastiano were kind enough to sit down and map the inspirations, influences and ideas behind all 12 songs on Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down. So tune in, follow along and stream the album below.

“I’ve Come Around to That”

There’s a big roundabout in the town of Latham, NY where I grew up that’s referred to as a circle. Turning yourself around, opening your mind to things it used to be closed to, time, and finding acceptance for who you are all get yelped about in this song. The Latham Circle felt like a good symbol for all that and more. —Michael

“Seafood”

I wrote this song from the perspective of multiple different characters who work in the seafood industry- fishermen, suppliers, restaurant workers. I was feeling particularly romantic about seafood at the time, and it also felt like a great excuse to list types of seafood I like in a song. In a similar way that writing about music came up on our first album, writing about food felt natural to me. —Michael

“Mudslide”

This one is all about framing anxiety as something more communal that everyone goes though, as opposed to something that you have to go through alone. I was given the title during the writing session with Alenni Davis and Tyler Bussey, we had just recorded the instrumental and backing vocals. After they left, I wrote the lyrics down quickly while everything was still super fresh. —Michael

“Is There a World?”

A song of paranoia and feeling the winds of change from many different directions. Also the reflections of oneself that can be found in your peers, family, and your surroundings. Coincidentally, we spent a lot of time working in front of computer screens for this one. —Michael

“I’m Your Roommate”

There are songs for lovers, friends, family members, and strangers. A roommate can be any of these. They’re complex and I wanted to write about their unique existence in a persons life. I had just gotten a new roommate (our drummer Noah) and the opening line was just bopping around in my head for months before I decided, “ya know what, this should be a song.” —Michael

“Another Reindeer”

Sometimes it can feel like the world can only throw us curveballs. This is a song for the shitty unbelievable things people go through day in and day out. Plus I had to put reindeer in a song that’s not about Christmas. Just feels like the Another Michael way. —Michael

“Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down”

Sometimes when I want to feel calm, I picture the image of somebody just picking me up and holding me upside down like when I was a little kid. No expectation for me to help with holding myself in that position. Just a moment of pure freedom thanks to the trust in someone that nothing bad will happen. —Michael

“Maureen”

A wordless tribute of love to my mother who passed away in 2020. She always said she had this beautiful music in her dreams that she didn’t know how to create because she wasn’t “musical,” to quote her. But she wished that I could hear it so that I could create it for her. I played this on the piano at the studio one morning and everyone joined in on instruments we don’t normally play together. I think this is our attempt to conjure up some of that dream music. It’s my favorite recording we’ve made, especially when it comes in after the title track. The piano is such a dynamic instrument and I’m so happy we’ve been able to incorporate it more. —Michael

“Hub of Dreams”

This one’s a travel song, written from the perspective of a touring band like ourselves. Big dreams being shared in the small cramped spaces that traveling creates. —Michael

“I’m Not Mad Anymore”

The feeling of a frantic Friday night living in Albany NY as a college student. Maybe you were at a party, at the basement gig, or the kid working their late-night shift, hoping friends would visit for a buff-chicken calzone. There were times when every weekend night during a semester felt like its own canon event, widely experienced from many perspectives and documented by a community of roving, fun-seeking peers. —Nick

“The Diner’s Spoon”

This song is a collage of different people living on edge one way or another. The Diner’s Spoon was the title I gave the GarageBand demo and that became the kind of title that really got meme’d out throughout the process of recording as some sort of nonsense. But it means something to me, even if I don’t know exactly what. When we finally got to recording, we went for a sprawling intro. I love when songs have a sort of “trap door” moment, like here when the song really comes in. —Michael

“Like I Won a Car”

Cars are meant to last you a long time, but they’re not meant to last you forever. That isn’t crossing your mind when you break into the first mile of a brand new one that you’ve maybe been so lucky to have won. The end of its story is nowhere in sight. The idea of a new thing, a new experience, a new way of life; the early stages take over reality. They make things feel so dreamlike. If you’re lucky, you can ride with those feelings forever, but how long is that? —Michael

Stream or buy Pick Me Up, Turn Me Upside Down here.

 
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