Mandrake Handshake - 'Charlie's Comet'
Mandrake Handshake's 'Charlie's Comet' is an utterly captivating new release, thumping and subtly commercial with a thumping beat and soft, hazy vocals.
Tip Top Recordings' brand new signing Mandrake Handshake showcase a different asset to their musical catalogue by creating a punching new pop rock track with a robotic intro and a dose of electronic effects used on the band's new and eclectic soundscape. The single is the band's first release of the year and sees the group create a hypnotic piece of psych rock with their signature sonic compositions at its core. 'Charlie's Comet' is a slowly building, steadily hazy alternative track with a soundscape that is most atmospheric. They've combined elements of krautrock with art pop and psychedelia and spiced things up with groovy basslines, fizzy electronics and fearless improvisations.
If you're a fan of "what's been done before", then Mandrake Handshake won't be for you. The band pushes boundaries and expectations and improvises to create something that is at all times surprising. The band vary between seven to ten members, including a flamboyant tambourine shaker, and reminds me of when Sports Team transitioned from indie bangers to musical experiments. It'll be a curious case to find out how Mandrake Handshake's curious sound translates from recording studio to live setting, such as a festival field, as they've created another intricate journey that is at no point predictable. They're stating the release of their new single as the start of a new era for Mandrake, "here, where the sea joins the sky, and where the trees touch the stars and where we will have you stay a while".
They're as poetic spoken as they are in sound, dedicated to their art and chosen career. With the release of 'Charlie's Comet' they share that they had to say goodbye to their original rhythm guitarist and one of the steady rocks of their group, Charlie. "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's not a goodbye but see you soon, loved one."
Words by Laura Rosierse
