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

“An intoxicating proposition that has to be heard to be believed” 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

Mandrake Handshake announce their signing to cult indie label Tip Top Recordings (Japanese Television) and share brand new single ‘Charlie’s Comet’, out today (July 23rd).

Marking their first release of 2024, ‘Charlie’s Comet’ sees the hypnotic psych collective build on their sonic signature they dub ‘Flowerkraut’: a hedonistic, brain-frying feast of krautrock, art-pop and psychedelia, spiced with enigmatic grooves, fizzing electronics and fearless improvisations. 

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 band 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.

Later this month, the band will headline the BBC Introducing stage at Truck Festival (as holders of Introducing Oxford/Buckinghamshire’s ‘Act of the Year’), in addition to a special showcase event in Brighton for acclaimed independent fashion-maker/ Mandrake Collaborator Rabbit Baby.

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 backers includes The Independent, The i, NME, Loud & Quiet, Dork, DIY, So Young, The Line Of Best Fit and Clash, and with further new material imminent, their momentum is only set to grow.

Speaking ahead of its release, the band stated: “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. 

However, just as eras are born so too much they end. And so we must say goodbye to our original rhythm guitarist and one of the steady rocks of the group, Charlie. But just as comets return on their wide orbitals, so too will we see Charlie again, flashing through the horizon.  And so Charlie’s Comet is born - it is not goodbye but see you soon, loved one.”

Mandrake Handshake’s ‘Charlie’s Comet’ 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), Scott Custis (rhythm guitar), Charlie Arrowsmith (rhythm guitar/comet), Jake Kavanagh (bass)