The Thrill Jockey Records bio that accompanies Masks, the follow-up EP to last year's exhilarating More, includes a list of 74 bands to which Baltimore trio Double Dagger have been compared. From Weezer to At the Drive-In, Fugazi, the Presidents of the United States of America to Sonic Youth, the index makes clear this band bashes out anthems that recall post-punk and alternative rock heroes. No, it's not exactly original stuff, but, at their best, Double Dagger feel fresh and urgent. Each song is like another alarm clock ringing.
That makes "Imitation is the Most Boring Form of Flattery", Masks' opening shot, the perfect gambit. Like a thick shot of Red Medicine, Double Dagger rises into a scrim of noise. "Look out, kids! We're all in danger. Our history has no future. Don't be just another repeater. Our history has no future," singer Nolen Strals and bassist Bruce Willen shout together, offering the hook as a preamble. Strals rails against those who simply offer pale versions of old records for an easy ride into mass consumption. But Strals questions himself here, too, especially given that list of inspirations: "You don't see the past as a source of inspiration/ You just have it sat at your final destination." At first, I misheard this lyric, so that it felt as if he were contemplating his own guilt, allowing for interpretation: Is it that when you accept your influences at face value, you die, or is it that you haven't reached creative fulfillment until you acknowledge that art is bigger than your own ideas? But given the list of comparisons the band recognizes, it works more as a credo-- never be satisfied with sounding too much like anyone. If you do, beware: "I guess how it went is just how it goes," he recapitulates, shrugging it off and barreling ahead.
Despite its instrumental ferocity and sharpened focus, Double Dagger never take themselves too seriously, eschewing some of the proselytizing of their previous albums. The EP is both hilarious and furious, poking fun to prove bigger points. On "Pillow Talk", for instance, Strals relates half a dozen ribald tales of sexual deviance-- the woman who wants to suck on her friend's stinky feet; the man who thinks his way through sex with his girlfriend so he doesn't cry out "Bob"; the guy who hopes to be bound but fears what his partner will think when he brings the rope into the bedroom. But Strals isn't out for laughs. "If I could leave you with one bit of advice," he says, "whisper in their ear how you want it tonight." Likewise, "Sheep in Wolf's Clothing" revels in the sort of linguistic back flips its title suggest, stringing a handful of good-for-nothing catch phrases together. Even the seven-minute "Sleeping with the TV On", which tackles unfaithful friends, high taxes, health insurance, raised rent, and generally bad situations, is a love song of sorts. With all the reasons in the world to be nervous, or to sleep beside the adult nightlight of a Lifetime rerun, he'd like a little comfort and companionship. At least until the next alarm clock rings.
