Mandrake Handshake

“Funk-filled psychedelic-leaning bop” DIY

“A cyclonic tour de force” The Line Of Best Fit

“If Mandrake Handshake keep planting stars, a universal shift is imminent” So Young Magazine

“New Banger” NME

"Ushering in a new era" Dork

“Skittering rhythms, bloopy synths and psychedelic harmonies” The Independent

“Mandrake Handshake melt together Syd Barrett psychedelia alongside more modern touchstones – think Tony Allen rhythms, Unknown Mortal Orchestra electronics and more” Clash

“Time slowing sensation” I Paper

"Delicious... I just want to take a bite out of it" Deb Grant (BBC 6 Music)

Mandrake Handshake announce debut LP ‘Earth-Sized Worlds’, set for release February 21st via cult indie label Tip Top Recordings (Japanese Television), and share latest single ‘The Change And The Changing’, out today (November 26th).

The concept tying together every last note and lyric of ‘Earth-Sized Worlds’ - the debut album from the London/Oxford self-dubbed ‘Flowerkraut’ collective Mandrake Handshake - is an awfully simple one: ‘Welcome to Space Beach’. A mantra to unite under one aesthetic roof the various creative compulsions of this complex, multi-limbed organism - varying at any one time between 7 to 10 members - it’s an album that conspires the alienating vastness of the cosmos against the warm nostalgias of home. Full of surprise, leftfield turns and closeted experimentations, tape-soaked Brazilian Sambas morphs into Kosmische Kraturock crusades, and shimmering avant-pop electronics melt into sweetened psychedelic bliss… “Welcome to the Spacebeach - the new era of the Mandrake. Here, where the sea joins the sky, and where the trees touch the stars and where we will have you stay a while”.

With news of their biggest UK headline show to date at London’s No90 (Hackney Wick) on February 28th next year, Mandrake Handshake are certainly firing on all cylinders as their debut album release draws ever closer. Having already showcased lead singles ‘Charlie’s Comet’ and ‘King Cnut’ in recent months, ‘The Change And The Changing’ marks the third reveal from their upcoming record as they experiment further with their eccentric brand of ‘Flowerkraut’: a hedonistic, brain-frying feast of krautrock, art-pop and psychedelia.

Varying anywhere between 7-10 members - including a dedicated, flamboyant tambourine shaker - their pristine, multi-limbed spectacle of a live show has journeyed up and down the UK and EU in recent times. With multiple headline tours to their name, including a sold-out show at London’s iconic 100 Club earlier this year, the group have already ticked off slots at the likes of Wide Awake, Green Man and Manchester Psych Fest, as well as shows with psych-figureheads W.H Lung, Pale Blue Eyes, Triptides and Sugar Candy Mountain, and will embark on a UK tour supporting Del Amitri in December as their profile continues to soar.

With two critically acclaimed EPs already to their name - ‘Shake The Hand That Feeds You’ (released via Nice Swan Records) and ‘The Triple Point of Water’ - Mandrake Handshake’s long list of press champions includes The Independent, The i, NME, Loud & Quiet, Dork, DIY, So Young, The Line Of Best Fit, Rough Trade, Clash, Crack and Guitar World, as well as extensive BBC 6 Music (Deb Grant, Don Letts, Gideon Coe) and Radio X (John Kennedy) airplay.

Speaking ahead of the release, lead vocalist Trinity Oksana explained: “The lyrics were inspired by a solo trip to Edinburgh during a transitory period of my life. They are a reflection on returning to Self after being changed by the Other, on connecting with the ultimate autonomy of the Self as a form of empowerment beyond relational turbulence, and a testament to the healing power of nature. My words found their musical home in the classics of Musica Popular Brasileira and is a love letter to the greats of that period.”

Produced by Dom Kirtley (Talk Show, Teeth Machine) and Row Janjuah, Mandrake Handshake’s ‘The Change And The Changing’ is out now via Tip Top Recordings and available on all digital platforms.

Mandrake Handshake is Row Janjuah (lead guitar/vocals), Trinity Oksana (lead vocals), Elvis Thirlwell (percussion), Joe Bourdier (drums), Rudy Mae Symonds (backing vocals), David Howard-Baker (saxophone/flute/keys), Moogieman (modular synth/keys), Charlie Arrowsmith (rhythm guitar/comet), Jake Kavanagh (bass)