The podcast format, as modern as it sounds, isn’t as innovative as you would think. After all, radio dramas were a thing more than 70 years ago. In fact, they were clearly more difficult to produce as technology was very limited, and sometimes, the plays were broadcast live to varied degrees of success. Orson Welles and his infamous show? Exactly.

But in recent years, the popularity of fiction and true-crime podcasts has grown massively. Even enterprises have been formed because of them. It’s grown exponentially in terms of budgets, and today’s shows don’t sound the way they did before. Producers have realized that not only a recognizable voice works. There’s a production aspect that’s divisive between the cheap and the professional.

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This calls for industries merging on what they do best, and big names having effect on how a show works. Which brings us to Quiet Part Loud.

The Peele Effect

     CBS All Access

Do you remember what happened with Nia Da Costa’s Candyman? People thought Jordan Peele was in the director’s chair. After all, every piece of advertising took that disrespectful path. It was Da Costa’s show, and a good one for that matter.

So when Jordan Peele produces a podcast, the same thing happens. There’s excitement, but now people are also realistic. As good as Candyman was, it wasn’t a Peele joint. Some were disappointed. Some were impressed. Would a podcast work the same way, even when it wasn’t written by Peele himself, as Candyman was?

Quiet Part Loud, the new Spotify podcast executive produced by Jordan Peele, was released days ago on Spotify, and we were instantly hooked on what was promising out to be a great horror podcast.

Did Quiet Part Loud live up to its producer’s ability? Yes.

Down A Socially Corrupt Rabbit Hole

     Spotify

In Quiet Part Loud, a radio host called Rick Egan has known better times. He’s a right-wing bigot who loved to spread lies if it performs well with his agenda, and that of his thousands of followers. But after three Muslim teenagers go missing and Egan uses the mystery to accuse them of being involved in sleeper cells, he loses his job and his followers. It’s over for Egan.

Then one day while he’s in the convention circuit, a woman approaches Egan. It seems one of the boys has reappeared, and Egan sees an opportunity. After this first mysterious encounter, the former radio host starts investigating the case to look for redemption from all sides. Unfortunately, he also will face an entity far more horrible than he ever thought possible.

The show’s written by Clay McLeod Chapman and Mac Rogers, and it stars Tracy Letts as Egan, Nikohl Boosheri as Noor, Christina Hendricks as Allied Alice, Milly Shapiro as Becca, Alfredo Narciso as Vernon. Other actors included are Taran Killam, Arian Moayed, Krish Marwah, Krysta Rodriguez, and others.

Quiet Part Loud is Very Scary. But Why?

First, the social context that’s presented in the show is terrible enough to make us think of dark times when xenophobia was at its best in the aftermath of a horrific terrorist attack. It’s not that it’s supposed to give you goosebumps, but at least it will make you tense. Let’s take a minute and consider these figures are extremely realistic, and that hate-mongering is part of popular culture in some cases. But it’s fiction, right?

Spoiler alertAnd then we get the subject for Quiet Part Loud. The show’s theme of possession through radio waves is very original and functional to the show’s concept and format. In Pontypool, we saw something similar taking over a snowy town. But in Quiet Part Loud, this entity is organic and intelligent, and less abstract. The glimpse at its mission being a hundred years old is bloodcurdling and very effective.

Regardless of how it affects the characters in the storyline, this is something that’s hard to stop thinking of, considering how connected we are today. Connected with everything and everyone. Listening to the show on your phone feels ironic, considering that very machine is listening to every single one of us at every moment. Of course, there’s not a rational entity looking to possess you, but machines are getting smarter. The idea of artificial intelligence like Skynet only being part of James Cameron’s films is becoming part of the past.

However, it’s the sound design in Quiet Part Loud which stands out above everything else. This is a show that feels like nothing else out there. It sounds like a production where thousands of hours were implemented into making a sonic universe tangible enough to make audiences part of it. From sound effects to music becoming essential to the story, to sound engineering making spatial audio possible, this is comparable to Peele’s drive to include technology as part of his filmmaking.

It will shroud you to the point of desperation. The story goes by in a flash, and you will maybe feel disoriented once it ends because many things happen in the last two episodes. But it’s exactly how a show of this nature should work. Other podcasts are famous for using sound design as part of the story. In Quiet Part Loud, the key is using a soundscape to portray a story where that beautiful sense could carry something evil in it.

Once we enter its final moments, Quiet Part Loud goes for simplicity in how it resolves its conflict. It’s even predictable. Needless to say, your ears will be ringing, but it won’t be because of the loudness of the screams of agony.

What if it’s something more?

Season 1 of Quiet Part Loud is streaming for free on Spotify.