NYC’s Tchotchke has announced Playin’ Dumb, their new album produced by The Lemon Twigs out September 5th, and share a delightfully off kilter new single/video, “Poor Girl.” Playin’ Dumb’s 11 tracks are sophisticated and sonically complex, leaning heavily into the band’s love of 60’s rock and outsider popsters like Harry Nilsson, Dolly Mixture, and Sparks. Channeling a Shangri-Las style of conversational vocals, the cast of characters that Tchotchke personifies in Playin’ Dumb embody classic girl group traits of lovelorn winners and losers. The band thinks of these narrators as hyper-feminine caricatures of themselves, with aspects of their personalities amplified to the point of high drama.
The mid-tempo first single “Poor Girl” is an antonymously-named track about spoiled brats that shows off the band’s penchant for lyrics with tongue planted firmly in cheek. On the Joey Ramone-esque title track, a narrator laments behind a wall-of-sound arrangement that she keeps playing the “dim dum-dum” so that her boyfriend feels smart—even though she hates it. The video, directed by Kaila Chambers and Hilla Eden, features the band, and peers into the wonderful world of Tchotchke.
Playin’ Dumb Tracklist
1. The Game
2. Did You Hear?
3. Kisses
4. Poor Girl
5. Davide
6. Jealousy
7. Now I Love You
8. Skipping Around
9. Other Boys
10. Goodbye
11. Playin’ Dumb
