Poses and Passion From Marcy Playground

A bit college rock, a bit sweet pop, Marcy Playground is a little-band-that-could from New York. The trio has a No. 1 “modern rock” hit with a decidedly unambitious, laid-back little swoon song called “Sex and Candy,” and as singer John Wozniak looked out over the excited audience at the band’s sold-out show at the Troubadour on Wednesday and crooned that tune’s chorus--”Mama, this must be my dream”--it felt that he was singing from his heart.

Though heartfelt passion--coolly tempered by irony, of course--was not lacking, the group often gave the feeling that it was co-opting a college-rock pose. That impression became especially strong when it cranked up a smoke machine and dipped into Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama.”

All in all, Marcy Playground was best when it was romantic and modest, a far cry from such muscular, power-grunge songs as “Poppies.” Though the band downplayed the set’s highlight, it really could not do better than “Sex and Candy,” a lusty yet wistful number that compares a woman to “double cherry pie.” Wozniak’s best songwriting trait is his endearing way of tapping into a kidlike frame of mind.

None of which jibed with the sarcastic alterna-boy pose. If Marcy Playground is to be more than a one-hit wonder, it will have to choose whether it’s going to be about life’s soft underbelly or a cynic’s hard armor. The former would be the better choice.