Tchotchke will drop their Lemon Twigs produced new album Playin’ Dumb, on September 5th. Ahead of the album’s arrival, the trio have shared new single/video, “Poor Girl.”

Anastasia Sanchez (vocals, drums) and Eva Chambers (bass, keys, vocals) met in the mirror of an L.A. high school locker room in 2014—they were both fixing their bangs. A deep musical friendship was quickly formed, forged on a shared love of everything from vintage dolls to the Beach Boys, and resulting in a handful of bands together. Several years passed before fellow L.A. musician Emily Tooraen (guitar, vocals) entered Anastasia and Eva’s orbit and everything finally clicked. A move to the East Coast followed, and the band released Tchotchke (2022), followed by tours with King Tuff, Broncho, The Gossip and The Makeup followed.

To write Playin’ Dumb, the band came to the studio with songs fully arranged and demoed. They again enlisted the Lemon Twigs to produce, this time in a Brooklyn studio aptly dubbed “The Vegetable Attic” (due to the produce warehouse located downstairs). Playin’ Dumb was recorded over the course of four seasons. Contending with the Lemon Twigs’ touring schedule, Tchotchke would jump back into the studio whenever there was a chance; from sweating it out above the wilting vegetables to walking on ice with guitars and enduring days without the heat on in order to get the perfect studio sound.

Emily elaborates: “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 sunshiney, 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.”

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

Pre-order Playin’ Dumb HERE