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Multi-instrumental maestro Alessio Ferarri – under the Upupayāma moniker – delivers a psychedelic rock marvel with fourth “Honesty Flowers”

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Alessio Ferarri (aka Upupayāma) is something of a marvel. A free spirit existing in a world of commercial music soundbites, Ferarri very much operates in his own lane. A brewing of organic psychedelic rock and global grooves, it courses through every music thread imaginable as we enter Ferarri’s visionary world.

Not wanting to pick sides nor wishing to settle for one genre, Alessio enjoys pretty much all forms of musical influences. From traditional Bhutanese music to Italo Disco, from Italian library music to stoner, from Brit pop to psychedelia in all its forms. The end goal? Whatever inspires. You can hear all these influences across his records. A melting pot of styles, quips and motifs all for one outcome: a truly transcending listening experience. Remarkably, despite the presence of sound through his work, Ferarri writes, plays and records everything himself – guitars, keys, flute, sitar, and an arsenal of percussion all feature. Which not only makes up for an intriguing individual in terms of composition, but also a talented one at that too.

Ferarri now returns with his fourth studio album Honesty Flowers, two years after its 2024 predecessor with Mount Elephant. The bulk of the record’s tracks were laid down in his gorgeous home barn studio in a small mountain village overlooking the city of Parma. Wow – I mean, if you’re questioning whether the location of making music is important, I’d perhaps get a ticket to Italy and ask Alessio yourself.

Ferarri first fell into our ears with The Golden Pond in 2022. A strong lavishing of ’60s acid-folk, it was the first introductory project we had from the artist. The first ascent from the Italian rock underground scene, heads soon turned with the likes of celebratory Màs and odd-time flurry Entering the Time of Wilderness circulating. Shorter in time but meticulously composed, Mount Elephant offered more of the same.

Now with his most recent, it seems he has upped the ante even more. Honesty Flowers is an ever-evolving tapestry of an individual searching for sound – and just having absolute fun with it. With that underlying rhythmic funk groove, doubled-down scorched fuzz riffing fill the air, winding motorik jams, tranquil drones and pastoral acid-folk all traverse a landscape of over seventy-minutes of run time. Not to mention the array of percussion on masse that Alessio has at disposal. Bongos, bells, Djembe drums. Anyone would act like a child in a toy shop with such an flurry of instruments in their hands, but Alessio here has the know-how to reel back and refine to have just the right feel at every right moment.

As a musician constantly inspired to improve and develop, he is also unafraid to operate within unfamiliar territory too which is where the crux of this new project actually transpires from: “It’s an album that was born above all from the beauty of being able to narrate the unknown and recognise yourself in it, which could translate into telling stories and bringing them to life…“

At its core, the record is permeated with psychedelic funk. But along the way, we find ourselves jumping down rabbit holes of many non-Western influences that makes its way to all four corners of the globe. There’s a percussive tribalism to it giving it its structure; but the guitars make it a kaleidoscopic doozy of music at its most enjoyable. A genuine feast for the ears, Honesty Flowers sees Upupayāma blooming outright. It’s argued that he’s not at the peak of his powers (as that ceiling appears endless) but every project just sets the standards that little bit higher.

With such an experimental trope to his work, Alessio takes his music on the road with a six-piece live band. They will hit Europe for festival season before a double-headline date in London in September.