Pod is the debut album by alternative rock band The Breeders, released on 4AD in May 1990. The group began when the Pixies' Kim Deal and Throwing Muses' Tanya Donelly became friends in 1988 and decided they would like to create music together. Abandoning their initial idea of focusing on dance music, they recorded a country-influenced demo with musicians including violinist Carrie Bradley and bassist Ray Holiday in 1989. When 4AD cofounder Ivo Watts-Russellheard the demo, he offered them money to re-record the songs for an album release. For the album session, Steve Albini was engineer, Josephine Wiggs replaced Halliday on bass, Britt Walford played drums, and both Deal and Donelly played guitar. Following two weeks of practicing in England, The Breeders recorded Pod at the Palladium studio in Scotland. Albini recorded the group quickly, and focused more on getting good sounds from the musical equipment than on trying to improve the musicians' performances.