Just like the dark shade of night, the tonality of drone bears a certain audible stagnancy unlike any other style of rock. If musty fog over soft and low vocals suits your musical scene just right, lend a good listen to the works of the Enas brothers, Doug and Brian, rising out of the Indianapolis music scene.
Brian’s seething guitar riffs sink into any corner of the mind they may find, powered by Doug’s rhythmic powerhouse. Lyrical content wanes on the edge of horrific romanticism, especially in “Maze of Graves”: “Your dissolution hides behind a screen / this shade of silence not to be seen / I didn’t know you have those kind of dreams.”
On Saturday, the brothers of Stagnant Pools will be taking the stage at Mike ‘N Mollys at the the stroke of midnight, just after Major Lazer’s set at the HIghdive. Doug Enas spared some time ahead of the performance to shed some light on what what they’ve been working on lately.
Smile Politely: So how long have you and Brian been making music together?
Doug Enas: We grew up in a musical home, so we’ve been playing music pretty much all our lives, since we were 10 or so. But this band has only been together for four years.
SP: So when were your songs written for Temporary Rooms written?
Enas: We had a collection of songs that we had made over the years, and we had never made an official record. we only had recorded ourselves. We just wanted to make the record pseudo-professionally and do it in a studio. Most of the songs were written in the year 2010.
SP: I also understand you’ve done some DIY releases in the past? I see from your bandcamp that there was a limited edition of Temporary Room released on cassette tape.
Enas: That was just kind of something… we had done cassettes before. We made a record called Realized before Temporary Room that wasn’t an official release or anything, but we released that on cassette.
SP: What do think of the resurgence of retro mediums?
Enas: It’s the vinyl thing that people are still thinking is the retro media. People in their 30s and 40s are still asking, ‘Why is this stuff coming on vinyl?’ Music fans who buy, like the Stagnant Pools record, probably have access to the internet. You can really get and listen to whatever you want these days, so I think music fans want to have some sort of tangible, physical copy of the band they like to support. We think that’s cool, to do something beyond just making a CD and burning it on a computer. I think it’s it’s fine. I think things like Cassette Store Day are kind of funky.
SP: It seems like you and Bryan have forged an industrious chemistry of drone and rhythm, which is more than ever present in your single, “Dead Sailor.” What was it like developing this as not only musicians, but also brothers?
Enas: I think that’s it, we’re best friends too, we’ve lived together for a while and we live together now. We’re writing a new record now, and I like to get in the mindset that it’s a solo record, and that we can make a solo record with two people in it.
SP: What experiences and artists have influenced the more ambient parts of your music?
Enas: We like a lot of Harold Budd and Brian Eno ambient stuff, and Brian [Enas] really wants our music to be atmospheric. There are definitely enough rock duos with two white guys these days, so we try the best we can to stray away from strictly rock and roll tendencies. We like a lot of jazz, a lot of atmospheric Krautrock kind of stuff .
Stagnant Pools will be joining the Pygmalion 2013 lineup at Mike ‘N Mollys on Saturday at midnight.