Mandrake Handshake are cool and they play even cooler psychedelic rock. They’re essentially a big bad playing psychedelic rock – just take a look at their member list: Trinity De Simone (vox), Charlie Arrowsmith (Rhythm Guitar), Joe Bourdier (drums), Danny Jefferies(bass), Moogieman (Keyboards), Elvis Thirlwell (Tamboorine, Vibes), Eris Nishku (Organ, Tamboorine), David Howard-Baker (Flute, Sax) Row Janjuah (Lead guitar, Organ). King Gizzard & The Lizard could never.
The joke above means no harm. We love King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard and we’re sure Mandrake Handshake do too. “Emonzaemon”, the first of a trio of singles the group released in the last three months, pulls plenty of notes of the Australian band repertoire. They play with the hypnotic groove of a krautrock band, the symbiotic perfection of late 60’s psychedelia and early 70’s prog-rock, the dreamy hypnotic of post-Tame Impala psychedelic rock and Bruno Pernadas-style jazz flourishes. The end result is not only captivating – it’s a somersault of emotions all the way that pushes us to float with utter ease.