Tchotchke Announce Playin’ Dumb, Share “Poor Girl”

Tchotchke, the NYC trio of Anastasia Sanchez, Eva Chambers, and Emily Tooraen, will release their first LP in three years this September. Playin’ Dumb will arrive on 9/5, and it was produced by another Big Apple favorite, the Lemon Twigs. The last Tchotchke full-length, their self-titled 2022 effort, was a tremendous introduction to the best contemporary translators of girl-group panache. Earlier this summer, the band shared “Did You Hear?,” which I called “diva-rock full of kaleidoscopic pop color, as the trio rise up to meet the moment, escalating their reverie of retro with cool-blue guitar riffs and Merseybeat drum fills.” Playin’ Dumb aims to fixate on similar techniques of retro, led by today’s new single “Poor Girl.”

Tooraen says of “Poor Girl”: “We confined ourselves to creating the personas of three ungrateful and out-of-touch girls with complete stories in the span of four lines each. The challenge was emphasizing the fact that these girls were not ‘poor’ in the slightest but, in fact, very privileged to have the self-imposed problems they’re so tortured over. The song embraces the girls’ short sob stories while also capturing a sunshine-y, Beach Boys quality. It wasn’t until after the completion of the song, to our collective shock, that we realized our counterparts had effortlessly cast themselves. All along, we were creating the villain versions of each other.”

Watch the music video for “Poor Girl” and check out the Playin’ Dumb artwork and tracklist below.