The Pod
The Pod
(Accident Prone Records)
The Pod is the solo outlet for Scott Endres, guitarist of the Chapel Hill three-piece MAKE, notable for a steady stream of sludge/post-metal albums.
In the guise of The Pod, Endres has been nearly as prolific as his with his main project. A batch of recordings, albums and EPs, all in a little over seven years hardly counts as a side venture. Described as the place where he can go that is uninhibited by creative limits, without having to run his ideas through his band mates, The Pod is an atmospheric assemblage of blackened synthesizers, ambient beats and psychedelic sequences. On the most recent album in this mask, Endres delves deep into the gloomy otherness of his sound. “Folded Eyes” is a slurry of industrial loops, accented by an ascendant, almost optimistic set of keyboards; the staggered beat on “A Stranger In A Hidden Room” has all the ambience of a David Lynch soundscape, shuffling from the shadows and lurching in places, but oddly, satisfyingly beautiful. The same might be said for “Lifegiver” which is a seething, haunted piece of music, showcasing the shrieking, horrifying vocal depths that would entice heavy music fans.
How you regard The Pod (or The Pod, for that matter) really comes down to what you bring to the experience of this record, and more, what you want out of that. Taken as an extension of the metal form, this requires a listener to practice a measure of patience. “The Desert” builds into a heavy progression, but it takes time and just as quickly, falls away. When Endres goes for guitars as The Pod, they’re secondary, usually more washed out post rock influenced riffs than traditionally heavy and, in places they come off like lost distress signals. As an experimental record though, this could hardly be more satisfying. At more than fourteen minutes, “The Analeptic Ritual” feels, on the surface, soft and tends toward a tranquilly sublime mien, but there is a brooding slurry underlying that, which makes it one of the most disturbing songs in recent experience.
I choose to look at The Pod as a sketchbook. This is a place without rules, and within that inviting context, Endres has crafted an album of enduring merit.
