Double Dagger
Given this blog’s name among other things, a Double Dagger post was inevitably coming. One of my all-time favorite bands, their set last night at the Ottobar (my 9th or 10th time seeing them) was more than enough motivation to put something about them up. You can expect a lot of them on EIATP in the future too, as not only am I a huge fan, but Double Dagger also has a pretty significant web video presence.
Consisting of bassist Bruce Willen, singer Nolen Strals and drummer Denny Bowen, Double Dagger play in a style that blends the danceabilitiy, minimalism and pop sensibilities of early 21st century post-punk with the volume, sincerity and emotional intensity of 1990s post-hardcore. They’re one of a number of bands, including among many Health, the Death Set, Mika Miko and Ponytail , who took cues from things like the first few Liars , Black Eyes or even Yeah Yeah Yeahs releases, but play that style in a more technical, ambitious, and developed way. Much like Death From Above 1979 or Lighning Bolt, Double Dagger eschews guitar in favor a single, very powerful bass.
“Vivre Sans Temps Mort” is a track from Double Dagger’s latest LP, MORE. It’s a slower, more reflective track from the group, and evinces how much the simple components of their sound can express together. This music video. directed by Cat Solen, who has done work with CSS, Bright Eyes, and Death Cab for Cutie, is Double Dagger’s first foray into the medium. There is also another Double Dagger video in the works which incorporated some live footage, my guess it’s either for “No Allies” or “The Lie/The Truth.”
The video makes use of several different techniques to create the illusion of time moving too fast, in keeping with the lyrical theme of private reflection contrasted with the passage of time. Among these techniques are fast motion shots, repeated, blurry shots of streetscapes filmed in a car speeding through Baltimore, and shots with what appear to be key frames cut out, to create the illusion of stop motion animation. The last of these three tends to be the most dominant, and is most effective in shots of wind blowing through trees, something both familiar and fluid turned alien and staccato here. It’s not out of the question that Solen might have accomplished this by simply somehow manipulating the shutter speed, though the video seems to bright for that. In fact, bright colors seem to be important here, the hot colors like orange, red and green contrasted against blue recalling MORE‘s cover art.
Double Dagger's MORE (2009)
The video stays extremely close to the music in terms of its editing, and one of its highlights is Solen’s split-second cuts from the main narrative, an asian boy building a diarama with model cars, to later scenes in the video to coincide with a cymbal hit. The shot beginning at the 1:25 mark, in which the video’s “protagonist” opens cabinets each time the bass guitar is strummed, is also an example of Solen’s editing prowess and musical ear. The more fluid pacing and conculding anamation as the song ends and the boy’s completed diarama is reveales reflects pleasantly the song’s musical climax. It’s a well done video to accompany a great song.
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