For anyone who has seen one of the infrequent performances by Rory Danger and the Danger Dangers, the inherent joy of their live set includes a sense of mystery about the experience, the obvious pleasure the musicians take in playing together, and the wide range of musical influences behind the group’s inventive sound. Now, nine years after their debut, The Age of Exploration, the band returns with a double album that finds the theatrical troupe pushing beyond their initial focus on rockabilly.

The Age of Invention includes 22 tracks, some of which are short interludes alluding to the peculiarities of an era that spanned much of the early part of the 20th century. There is an up-tempo ode to the mercurial inventor Nicholas Tesla; a song, “White Whale,” which is a staple of their live sets, that references the great American novel Moby Dick; and a two-part tune about the infamous Great Lakes ship, the Edmund Fitzgerald. Readers with long memories or deep music collections will remember the 1976 Gordon Lightfoot hit, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

I suspect part of the lag between the debut and the follow-up album has to do with the untimely death of “Spike Danger,” a.k.a. blues troubadour Spencer Bohren. Two of his tunes are included here. Both are gems and one, “Edna’s Pair-of-Dice,” was discovered on an old tape after his passing. The band, which includes Bohren’s son, Andre, added backing music to what was originally recorded solo.

Musically, the rest of the album still includes elements of rockabilly, but those tunes have been refocused through a circus-like lens with various effects buffeting the more traditional sound. Elsewhere, elements of heavy metal, Broadway show tunes from the Rocky Horror Picture Show school of unconventional theater and spaghetti western soundtracks animate the songs.

It’s a heady brew to be sure, but also a pure concoction informed by an intricate production, emotive vocals and a potent sense of fun. It feels and sounds like the band made the album for themselves. If the listener happens to like it, that’s icing on the proverbial cake. They only produced 50 vinyl copies as if to say, get it while you can. The ephemeral nature of their live performance is reproduced for a select few.

The album is available for download and streaming on all the major platforms (Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube), as well as the band’s Bandcamp webpage. The band printed 300 copies of the vinyl album (50 were special edition red vinyl), and are available at Louisiana Music Factory, as well as through the band.