Joseph Fink’s intro is slowed down by 10 percent on this one. Can’t say if this is a new thing; they don’t explain it. My guess is they were trying to hit a time mark, and this was the “weirdest” way to do it–27 minutes, no more no less. That being said, episode 48, “Renovations” is the perfect Night Vale product.

welcome_to_night_vale_by_tyrinecarver-d6l6tvxAs you may know, Night Vale, is one-part radio play, one-part community paper, and three parts science fiction/horror/conspiracy-theory stream of consciousness. So that’s five parts I guess. Five parts that can be incredibly hard to follow, but in a David Lynch way, so it works somehow.

StrexCorp is remodeling the radio station, and other random parts of of Night Vale it seems.

Details on the collateral damage are covered in the intro. Changes include, but are not limited to, the weird forest on the edge of town that whispers “that vest fits you well” and other fashion platitudes is to be destroyed. And they’ve replaced the Arby’s with a sculpture depicting the very same Arby’s 1:1 scale.

The man from the lighthouse brings forth a free floating cat and serves as today’s weatherman. He also tells us about the horror that was the company softball game.

There are winged creatures named Erika, all with a “K”. And the rest is, well, hard to get a handle on, but if you like Night Vale, you’re in for a treat.  Great production quality, great bizzaro narrative.