Playin’ Dumb by Tchotchke
The connotations of Tchotchke, as a band name, induce lowered expectations: you were expecting maybe an epic song cycle from musicians choosing to define themselves as a trinket? Surely you were raised smarter than that.
Yet a trinket connotes and contains its own little personal pleasures, and the New York City-based trio’s second album, Playin’ Dumb, is the classic-pop equivalent of a shelf lovingly arranged with such pleasures.
As on the group’s self-titled 2022 debut album, brothers Brian and Michael D’Addario—a.k.a. Lemon Twigs, pop-rock brilliance personified—handle production and engineering and provide various instrumental knick-knacks, while band members Anastasia Sanchez, Eva Chambers and Emily Tooraen write and perform all the tracks.
Simplicity, brevity, and clarity remain essential to Tchotchke, which nevertheless creates myriad bright colors and sounds within the essences: “The Game” could be a British Invasion vaudeville opener complete with “Penny Lane” trumpet and “Cobwebs and Strange” sound effects, and “Davide” blends Kaitlin Wolfberg’s viola, violin, and cello into an intricate layer-cake waltz.
Sanchez, as main singer, recalls not only the cleverly feigned kewpie-doll innocence of many a 1950s or 1960s girl-group leader (especially with the Ronettes tendencies of “Poor Girl”) but also the knowing sensuality of Susannah Hoffs or Belinda Carlisle (especially through the sugar-dusted Shonen Knife guitar riffs of “Did You Hear?”).
Tooraen supplies those riffs, although she usually plays with a gentler touch; Sanchez drums with Ringo Starr’s economical intelligence, particularly when delicately propelling a ballad like “Other Boys”; and Chambers sturdily and tunefully holds up her end with bass and keyboards.
Decidedly old-fashioned, Tchotchke doesn’t let its romanticism and cuteness tip over and spill into mawkishness and kitsch. Playin’ Dumb is an apt title for music that arranges little pleasures into a bigger pleasure. It is as smart as it is short and sweet.
Buy Playin’ Dumb on Amazon here.
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