QUIET PART LOUD – A SPOTIFY ORIGINAL – GIMLET MEDIA

QPL is every bit as good as you would expect from something that has been anywhere near Monkeypaw Productions and, as my first audio drama, I was very impressed.

Quiet Part Loud – A Spotify Original – GIMLET MEDIA
Quiet Part Loud, created by Monkeypaw Productions, written by Mac Rogers and Clay McLeod Chapman. Directed by Mimi O’Donnell. 

Listen on Spotify

A Review by Mark Walker ​

Disgraced radio host Rick Egan (Tracy Letts) has finally found his chance at reinventing himself: by chronicling the cold-case disappearance of several Muslim teens from Staten Island—a group he himself disparaged—in the wake of 9/11. But Rick soon discovers this is no ordinary hate crime, as his ill-considered investigations bring him face-to-face with an ancient American evil that's ready to offer him a monstrous bargain.

I can’t quite remember how I found QUIET PART LOUD. It may have just been a random notification from SPOTIFY or seeing something on Twitter, but I am glad I found it. I haven’t explored audio dramas on Spotify before so had no idea what to expect, but the production team and actors involved suggested it was worth a shot, so I gave it one.

QPL opens with shock-jock Rick shooting his usual, vial rhetoric over the airwaves, tapping into post 9/11 fears and winding up his angry listeners even more. He has been focussing on three missing teenage Muslim boys who he claims were part of a terrorist cell before they disappeared. However, a misplaced stunt on air, designed to convince his listeners of the terrorist threat, backfires and leaves him disgraced, out of a job, separated from his family, and low on friends.

A mysterious encounter in a bar reveals that the boys who disappeared years before are back and Rick is given the opportunity to try and chronicle their unexpected return in a new podcast and possibly redeem himself with the truth.
Only it isn’t going to be that easy.

The three boys aren’t quite what he expected, and he struggles to get to the truth because of who he is and how he has so successfully alienated himself from the communities he is now trying to protect.

And something came back with the boys.

Not only does Rick find himself battling the hatred towards him, but he slowly comes to realise that his, and many other’s actions, are being controlled behind the scenes by an ancient demon who possesses and controls those who can serve it, moving from host to host and spreading its poison via sound. As the truth starts to be revealed, Rick has to decide what is more important to him, redemption and reconnecting with his family or the popularity he once enjoyed before his fall from grace.

QPL is a relatively short, but original exploration of the misplaced fear and racial prejudice that we have seen grow exponentially since 9/11. While bigots focus their energy on innocent people who are simply different culturally or through religion, they miss what is right under their nose; that the media, and those with a loud enough voice, can be more divisive than any terrorist. Like the demon in QPL, racially-based anger and bigotry is fuelled by the noise that is continually added to the cacophony of hatred. Rick realises he is the voice of hate, the mouthpiece giving strength to the demon’s plans, and he needs to silence that voice before it is too late.

Spotify is the perfect home for an audio drama based around sound and the quality of the production is excellent. All the actors do a great job, and the lack of visual cues is not an issue for the drama, the action is clearly portrayed without straying into excessive expositionary dialogue. I did find myself having to rewind in a couple of places to get a few bits of dialogue, but that is most likely because I was listening in the car, and the background noise sometimes interfered with the drama. If you are listening at home, or on headphones, I suspect the experience will be even more immersive.

I was easily drawn into Rick Egan’s world and he makes for an interesting anti-hero. Despite clearly being a bit of an asshole, he does change during the series and starts to realise the error of his ways. Whether his path to redemption is an easy one, needs to be seen (heard), but he carries the story well and the ending holds a satisfying solution to the problem…

…or does it?
​
QPL is every bit as good as you would expect from something that has been anywhere near Monkeypaw Productions and, as my first audio drama, I was very impressed. I will definitely be checking more out – in fact, I already have, so I’m off to finish a review of ‘Case 63’, also from Spotify and GIMLET MEDIA.

the heart and soul of horror promotion websites