Listen to This: Dreamboy (from Night Vale Presents)

This might be the first time in the history of the US that anyone will want to spend time in Ohio.

Beloved podcast factory Night Vale Presents launched Dreamboy in October 2018. The new addition to their lineup lands us in the quirky (dare I say eery) neighborhood of Pepper Heights, Cleveland.

Here’s a teaser before we jump in:

There’s a child-killing zebra.

We got a gay club coined the Hussy.

I’m pretty sure there’s gonna be murder.

Let’s begin, shall we?

Meet Dreamboy

The flawless delivery of archetypal wit and spooky mischief echoes back to its most famous predecessor Welcome to Night Vale. Dreamboy starts episode one (“Goodnight, Esmerelda”) with a storybook-like retelling of how Pepper Heights came to be. It then takes a dive into a much stranger, more enticing tale.

We’re led through this narrative by Dane, a man composed of equal parts insecurity and quips. Having taken a winter reprieve from New York, Dane finds himself crashing at a friends’ place in Pepper Heights. He describes his current experience as, “I-need-a-six-month-nap soul tired.”

To distract himself from Grindr, Dane finds a mediocre job at the Pepper Heights Zoo. He’s managing an attraction called Jupiter’s Lifeless Moons – a name that just screams reassurance and family memories.

It’s here that the narrative starts to spin. Dreamboy builds on juxtaposition. It’s an atmospheric epic that somehow manages to feel contained and familiar yet never predictable. The podcast accomplished this feat by knowing its beats. Unease is cut with droll jokes, like a recurring joke deployed during a break-in; Erotica transitions to plot a step before crossing the boundary to porn; The mundane melts into eeriness, like the changing of the streetlights in Pepper Heights. 

The layering and tonal shift is something that co-creators Dane Terry and Ellie Heyman employ beautifully. Their adroit control of dialogue has us weaving through this new, strange place as it’s not so new at all. There’s a noticeable lack of awkward stumbles, common of most new series – podcast or otherwise.

In particular, Fictional Dane moves in this world as a nuanced character equally capable of beautiful soliloquies or embarrassed retellings of deli-related sex dreams (note: this is not a podcast for kids). His voice is clipped and energetic as if he’s still in the city instead of being tormented by cake and mysterious children in Cleveland. And when the character takes a moment to question the events unfolding around him, his pace slows to a hypnotic rhythm that leaves no doubt in my mind that Night Vale Presents knows the difference between creating a story and creating a story for audio platforms.

Where to Listen

As of mid-January 2019, there are only five episodes uploaded and I recommend binging them before the bandwagon forms. Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or Spotify of Dreamboy’s site. Oh hey, you can listen to the first episode below.

 

A Note: “I don’t do fictional podcasts”

While people are pretty dedicated to their podcast niches (put me down for 12 new episodes of Casefiles and a case of Ambien please) I’ve been branching out to find taste breakers. In the realm of fictional podcasts, Night Vale Presents created a paradigm. If you, like me, struggle to veer from your usual genres but love sci-fi, humor and a oodles of sex, then give Dreamboy a listen.

(Seriously though, this is not for kids. I’m typing to this as I listen to a surprisingly funny sex scene. I do, however, feel like my cat shouldn’t be hearing this as he’s only four.)

Bonus Content:

While this comedic and foreboding mix creates a binge-worthy podcast, Dreamboy also gets points for offering a hilariously bad easter egg. Night Vale Presents created a website for the glorious Pepper Heights Zoo. In true small-town fashion, the site includes Comic Sans and forgotten updates from 2005. The piece de resistance, however, is that you can follow the zoo on Twitter.