{"id":24988,"date":"2023-03-21T05:30:19","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T09:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=24988"},"modified":"2023-03-20T13:18:42","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T17:18:42","slug":"the-shiny-timeless-pop-of-tchotchke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/21\/the-shiny-timeless-pop-of-tchotchke\/","title":{"rendered":"The Shiny, Timeless Pop of Tchotchke"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"There\u2019s a strong classic pop sensibility running through the songs on Tchotchke<\/i>, the self-titled debut album by the New York City trio. The three musicians admit as much. \u201cI grew up on a lot of classic rock,\u201d says guitarist Emily Tooraen. Though the lead vocals of drummer Anastasia Sanchez might not suggest it, her formative influences are harder-edged. \u201cEverything heavy,\u201d she says. That was balanced by her mom\u2019s taste for goth and new wave. Growing up in Los Angeles, she was immersed in the music of the city\u2019s up-and-coming bands.<\/p>\n

Bassist Eva Chambers came up in a musical family. \u201cWhen we were kids, we had an all-girl band,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019d cover The Go-Go\u2019s, MC5 and the Beatles.\u201d She says that the mix of inspirations \u201cdrilled in my wanting to create really satisfying melodies and chord progressions.\u201d That, she surmises, helps explain where Tchotchtke\u2019s pop sound comes from.<\/p>\n

Chambers and Sanchez played together previously in Pinky Pinky, an L.A. band that traded in a kind of psychedelic-progressive garage sound. Tchotchke’s music represents a bold leap forward, with greater nuance and care put into the songwriting. Chambers explains the Tchotchke approach to songwriting: \u201cLet’s sit down at the piano and really work through these arrangements and parts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The album blows by in a brief half hour; Tchotchke places a higher value on quality than quantity. \u201cCome On, Sean\u201d has a sophisticated, art-pop character that might call to mind Jellyfish, or even the Beatles\u2019s psychedelic and carnivalesque \u201cBeing for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.\u201d Chambers agrees, describing the song as \u201ctheatrical.\u201d She says that with that and a couple of other songs on Tchotchke<\/i>, the group \u201cwanted to get a little more ambitious with the arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, \u201cWhat Should I Do?\u201d has a bouncy character that recalls Harry Nilsson and Van Dyke Parks at their best. Sanchez displays a thrilling and seemingly effortless vocal ability, soaring to the highest notes one moment, and swooping back down to Earth the next.<\/p>\n

Sanchez comes by her vocal prowess naturally; she claims to have had no formal training. \u201cBut weren\u2019t you in choir?\u201d Chambers teases. \u201cYeah,\u201d Sanchez admits. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t take it seriously.\u201d She says that while she has been singing all of her life, \u201cI was just making up silly songs and singing as a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tchotchke\u2019s sound balances the economical approach of a punk trio with a sophisticated, finely-tuned art-pop sound. The intricate arrangements are never over-wrought; instead they combine exuberance and intelligence, all wrapped in ear-candy melodies. Spotlight track \u201cWish You Were a Girl\u201d sports an irresistible melody, full of creamy vocal harmonies and an insistent beat.<\/p>\n

Tchotchke was aided in the studio side of its musical pursuits by The Lemon Twigs\u2019 Brian and Michael D\u2019Addario, who handled engineering and production on the album. The brothers also helped out with the brilliant string and horn arrangements.<\/p>\n

Brian D\u2019Addario\u2019s skill in the studio came in handy when the group\u2019s creativity threatened to outpace the tools they had at hand. Chambers recalls the recording of the string parts on \u201cCome On, Sean.\u201d The arrangement called for a violin, but nobody had one. \u201cSo Brian did it himself on the cello, and then he used the tape machine to speed it up to make it sound like a violin.\u201d Later in the sessions, an actual violinist was brought in to add to the recording. \u201cBut you can still hear some of Brian\u2019s sped-up cello in there,\u201d Chambers says.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe new album is clearly the product of a great deal of care and effort, applied in the Lemon Twigs\u2019 home studio. \u201cWe didn’t even have a clear idea of how it would come out or what we wanted each of the songs to sound like,\u201d Chambers says. \u201cWe just kept adding a lot of stuff to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Live and onstage, Tchotchke takes a more streamlined approach to the songs. \u201cWhen you come to the show, you do get a different rendition of each song,\u201d Chambers says, \u201cstripped down to the three-piece.\u201d She admits that initially she was nervous how the trio would sound onstage. \u201cBut I think we surprised ourselves,\u201d she says. \u201cI sing lead, and Emily and Eva sing backup,\u201d Sanchez points out. \u201cSo the big, recorded songs come to life\u201d onstage.<\/p>\n

Though the band has been together for a very short time, Tchotchke has quickly caught the notice of some select individuals who now count themselves as fans. Jason Falkner \u2013 acclaimed for his solo work as well as his tenures in Jellyfish and in touring bands backing Air, Beck and others \u2013 is one of those. \u201cHe reached out and said, \u2018Oh, I love \u201cDon\u2019t Hang Up On Me,\u201d\u2019\u201d says Chambers. As it happens, Tchotchke has a connection to Falkner, one he might not have known. \u201cWe actually recorded the album on his old board that Brian and Michael bought from him,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still early days for Tchotchke, but the group is focused on the future. \u201cWe didn\u2019t even have a band name when we recorded the album,\u201d says Chambers, noting that Tooraen joined after the songs were written. Now, the three musicians are already hard at work writing songs for the next record. \u201cEmily\u2019s going to be able to weigh in more on the songs,\u201d says Sanchez. \u201cThe three of us can collaborate more.\u201d In the meantime, the three women of Tchotchke can tour in support of their stellar debut, easily one of the finest pop records of this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a strong classic pop sensibility running through the songs on Tchotchke, the self-titled debut album by the New York City trio. The three musicians admit as much. \u201cI grew […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,49,51],"tags":[5099],"class_list":["post-24988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interview","category-new-release","category-pop","tag-tchotchke","cat-41-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24988"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25056,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24988\/revisions\/25056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}