Mandrake Handshake – ‘Earth-Sized Worlds’ album review: the come-up for a wild trip
THE SKINNY: Oxford-birthed psychedelic voyagers Mandrake Handshake have already coined their own personal genre term: ‘flowerkraut’. This, depending on how you wish to interpret it, conjures up one of two images: you’re either getting a down-the-line mix of the Grateful Dead and Can or the weirdest-tasting cabbage you’ve ever had.
Neither of these statements are strictly true, but on the band’s debut album, Earth-Sized Worlds, we’re closer to the territory of the former rather than the latter. Comprised of seven to ten members at various points, the band take a collective approach to fusing together various different sounds from disparate genres taken from across the globe. While the idea of there being too many cooks might immediately set off alarm bells, they’re fully aware of how to strike a balance between the many different elements being thrown into the pot.
The band want you to feel as though you’re being taken on a journey through listening to their sprawling debut, and the heavy emphasis on the psychedelic side of things hints at the idea that the various emotions and phases of an acid trip are all there to be discovered on the album. You’ll feel occasional euphoria, occasional disorientation, and an overwhelming desire to sink yourself further into the layers of sound, eventually finding yourself fully enveloped in all of its majesty.
However, sometimes the album suffers from playing things a little safe, and while the swirling sounds of vintage synths might feel like they’re offering an experimental edge, it doesn’t always add any additional depth to songs that extend beyond the five-minute mark without much structural deviation.
There are plenty of promising signs in what Mandrake Handshake offer on Earth-Shaped Worlds, and with a little more refinement, you get the feeling that they’ll deliver a truly mind-bending odyssey down the line. For now, we’re only in the beginning, and things are set to get a whole lot wilder from here.
For fans of: Vintage gear, flower power and double-dosing.
A concluding comment from the Polyphonic Spree: “7-10 members? Call that a big band?”
Earth-Sized Worlds track by track:
Release Date: February 21st | Producer: Dom Kirtley & Row Janjuah | Label: Tip Top Recordings
‘Time Goes Up’: It feels a shame to be listening to this opener in late February, because this, and large chunks of the album feel more suited to having the evening sun beat down on you. The band’s penchant for jazzy time signatures is introduced early on, and the spacy psychedelic synth gurgles are a lovely embellishment. [3.5/5]
‘Hypersonic Super-Asterid’: A motorik rhythm underpins this eight-minute single, and while it could benefit from a few more changes into different sections, the overall energy of the track is indicative of the enthusiasm that Mandrake Handshake like to inject into each track. [3.5/5]
‘Charlie’s Comet’: Opening with a sinister trap beat, the band eventually slink back into their psychedelic comfort zone, but the reduced pace of the track makes for an overall more sultry vibe. The bassline, chorus-drenched guitar and soaring sax solo are blended perfectly, showing off how the group can justify the number of contributors. [4/5]
‘The Change and the Changing’: I can’t help but feel like there’s some sort of resemblance between this song’s verse and Crowded House’s ‘Take The Weather’. That’s not a criticism, and the band once more deliver a blissful psychedelic lilt to the track through their deft production touches. [3.5/5]
‘Lorenzo’s Desk’: More unusual time signatures roll through, but it doesn’t feel like it’s been forced into existence. Rhythmic change-ups are one of the key elements that keep things exciting across the album, and as long as they can make it gel well with the rest of the vibe of the track, then they’re onto a winner. [3.5/5]
‘King Cnut’: Another of the singles, this song named for an 11th-century European monarch takes the unusual decision to dive into the South American sounds of cumbia. It’s not a bad effort to explore new ideas, but the song does feel like it could have been elevated slightly with a greater range of dynamics. It’s still great, but one of the flatter moments on the album. [3.5/5]
‘Barranmode’: While ‘Charlie’s Comet’ only started out feeling a lot darker, this continues in that vein and comes off as a major triumph in terms of diversifying the record’s sound. Yes, there’s still a fair amount of repetition in the groove, but it holds its own. [4/5]
‘Find the Tree (and Dig Deep!)’: The first half of the song revolves around a nasty funk groove that is occasionally punctuated by fluttering flutes. When you think it’s all over, birdsong continues softly in the background before a syncopated synth line comes back in to introduce a full band freak-out over trippy 808s. The more the band divert from the norm, the more entertaining they are. [4.5/5]
‘Earth-Sized Worlds’: Ending things on an epic track that feels like a psychedelic spin on Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s cinematic post-rock, the song eventually morphs back into a joyous explosion of the motorik rhythms and haziness that characterised much of the album, but does so in a way that feels like a unification of their sound rather than a retreading of old ideas. [3.5/5]
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