hello everyone, it’s been too long! but i (rat) am working on the finale of the department of variance fully now. i finally finished an outline that i am happy with and have started the actual writing. it will likely be one long episode, though we’ll see if it needs to be split up

may I present to to you my favorite “musical” (its not a musical pod but it has music in it) podcast of all time w one of my favorite soundtracks ever:

The Dead Letter Office of Somewhere, Ohio

I am OBSESSED with this pod and its music its just so amazing okay its brilliant its beautiful its incredible and I haven’t even started on the awesome plot of the show

the only place I could find the sound track is soundcloud:

Rat Grimes, the creator of the show, made all the music I believe and I think also sings the covers in it

one of my favorites is this cover of kiss me son of god by they might be giants that makes me feel like I’m ascending to a higher plane of existence or something every time I listen to it. Another one similar to it is the cover of my prayer which is also just glorious

Here are some more of my favorite tracks:

This one ⬇️ does this thing with what I think is called bilateral panning (idk its the thing where it alternates from your left ear to your right) at the beginning and end and it makes for an awesome affect. Also its just an awesome rock song fr:

God how i love haunting beautiful music:

Sometimes they will be a woman.

“studying unusual phenomena in all of Ohio's 89 counties. Now you may be thinking, aren't there only 88 counties in the state of Ohio?” oh duh Aisling I shoulda picked up on that

I like how Scarlett’s dialogue in the first episode is kinda like an npc in the tutorial/introduction of a game I wonder if thats on purpose

also with the larks I wonder if you see the light and then the sound they make because light travels faster than sound

yeah sure they say the dlo started in ‘91 but we all know forward and backward are not stable concepts

During the Sterling video hes talking to someone, a higher up perhaps, and all we hear from them are the same noises we heard from the boss in dlo when wren talked to them in the office

we learn more about thanatech and their history with somewhere ohio. Plus other various references to past dead letters scattered throughout

My fave is tha Scarlett goes to the songbird with mel and avery super cool I love those two.

gabes my fave side character btw I love gabe so freaking much

pov the dov characters are in scooby doo: scarlett=fred sterling=shaggy only cuz hes too much of a coward to be velma (said with love) gabe=scooby violet=daphne and jasmine=velma

The thing I am by far the most excited about:

We know rat grimes has a large voice acting range because they voiced everyone in dlo except for liz and post-boss lucy. And we know that the narrator of s1 is not their regular speaking voice. And the narrator sounds a lot like an older wren- the same sort of breathy, slightly animated voice. In dlo, wren was new to the office, inexperienced, learning lots of new info, and you could sorta hear it in their voice, confident with the knowledge they have stuff to learn, whatever. The narrator’s voice sounds like a more experienced wren. Why? It seems to me this was on purpose, the narrator could sound like anything but the fact that they sound like wren gives me hope its plot relevant.

Also, Shannon Strucci who voiced Lucy in dlo 19 and is also credited in dov- I think as the computer voice at the beginning of the series, maybe other things

lastly, and I dont remember if they play a part in s2 so maybe this is discussed and I forget (its been a while and i was playing video games when I listened the first time), it seems its probably wren on the phone at the end of dov 14 for the same reason I think the narrator might be them, and I’m very curious about what they mean by it being “their world”

alr s1 is complete see you later when i finish relistening to s2

Weeeeeeee