Upupayāma: Live At Fuzz Club Festival 2025 [Album Review]

Upupayāma
Live At Fuzz Club Festival 2025
Fuzz Club Records [2025]

“Upupayāma turn the Fuzz Club stage into a swirling, six-piece gateway to a bold, wide-open territory.”

Album Overview: Upupayāma began as the home-grown project of Italian multi-instrumentalist Alessio Ferrari, who crafted the early recordings almost entirely on his own. What started as a solitary vision grew into a full ensemble capable of reshaping and expanding those ideas onstage. In recent years, the group’s cross-continental blend of textures and traditions has earned them a fast-growing following, evolving from intimate experiments to a wider sonic horizon supported by a six-piece lineup.

Live At Fuzz Club Festival ’25 captures the band right as their catalog hit a new level of confidence and depth. The set pulls from all three of their releases — Mount Elephant, The Golden Pond, and the self-titled Upupayāma EP — presenting each piece in a roomier, more exploratory setting. It preserves the immediacy of the night while giving listeners a clear, front-row sense of how these songs stretch, breathe, and take on new shapes in front of an energized crowd.

Musical Style: This performance blends long-form rhythmic patterns, acoustic folk touches, and psych-leaning instrumental passages that pull from global traditions. You’ll hear shades of ’70s German experimentation alongside Turkish rock, Thai disco grooves, and modal influences from farther east. Rather than sticking to strict templates, the live band uses these reference points as launchpads for immersive, circular jams.

Evolution of Sound: Compared with the studio recordings, the Fuzz Club performance shows a band shedding tighter frames and fully embracing open-ended journeys. Themes from Mount Elephant and The Golden Pond stretch further, revealing new corners and more interplay between musicians. What once felt locked into specific arrangements now feels wide-open — the sound of a group confidently pushing their material outward together.

Artists with Similar Fire: If you’re into Kikagaku Moyo, Minami Deutsch, Altın Gün, GOAT, or Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek, you’ll feel right at home here. Fans of Khruangbin’s mellow instrumental drift or Cankisou’s border-hopping rhythms will also find plenty to love in Upupayāma’s culture-spanning psych glow.

Pivotal Tracks: The expanded take on “White Oak” from the debut EP is a standout, with the band opening up huge pockets of space inside its familiar theme. “Más” from The Golden Pond picks up even more lift live, building momentum through extended passages and closing with a fiery final push as the band circles back for a second burst of energy. Selections from Mount Elephant anchor the set, each one stretched wider and allowed to roam farther than their studio versions.

Lyrical Strength: Upupayāma’s vocals tend to act as another instrument in the landscape rather than the focus. In the live mix, the voice becomes a guide for mood and movement — shaping transitions, heightening atmosphere, and reinforcing the music’s emotional pull. Instead of telling fixed stories, the lyrics help outline the terrain the band wants you to wander through.

Final Groove: Live At Fuzz Club Festival ’25 isn’t just a document of a great night — it’s proof that Upupayāma’s world keeps expanding. These songs grow taller, looser, and more vibrant onstage, carried by a band that knows how to build momentum and let it ride. It’s an album that rewards repeat listens and hints at even wilder horizons ahead. If this is where they are live right now, the next chapter could be something special.

UPUPAYĀMA REVIEW HISTORY
Mount Elephant (2024)

UPUPAYĀMA LINKS
Instagram | Bandcamp | Fuzz Club Records