The Orbiting Human Circus: Julian Koster on his 'nice dream' podcast

Alex Biese | Asbury Park Press

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"The Orbiting Human Circus" is, at once, a timeless creation and a work of art that could have only existed in this moment.

A podcast charting the fantastical, tender and musical saga of The Janitor at the Eiffel Tower, the series' second season, "The Orbiting Human Circus in Naughty Till New Years," can now be experienced via Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast outlets.

“I feel like what we’re making right now, this could not have existed have existed in any other medium," said "Orbiting Human Circus" creator and star Julian Koster. "It’s like it was born for this medium and in a weird way, the medium started happening as we were making it too, this phenomenon. So it was really a special, magical kind of confluence.”

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The series' first season, "The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air) was released by Night Vale Presents in October 2016, with a deluxe edition released in partnership with WNYC Studios in 2018. "Naughty Till New Years" will be released biweekly by Night Vale Presents and WNYC Studios, with the first episode premiering Nov. 6.

Koster, a longtime indie musician best known for his work as part of Neutral Milk Hotel, has created something of singular beauty with "The Orbiting Human Circus."

Utilizing vintage audio equipment — including a wire recorder from the 1930s, a ribbon microphone from the 1940s and a tape machine from the 1960s — Koster beckons listeners to visit a surreal inner world where John Cameron Mitchell emcees a variety show broadcasting from an Eiffel Tower ballroom and Tim Robbins, who voiced a cricket last season, can be heard playing a flea.

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It's a boundlessly inventive series that is only limited by the scope of Koster's imagination.

“When a story comes to a person, I think there’s no limit to the dimension and size that that story actually has if the person lets it keep coming," said Koster. "There’s often so much that any given story has to offer, and I think what’s really cool about this medium is that there is really an opportunity for a story or a creation to express itself so deeply and so meaningfully, because you have hours and hours to express it.”

Koster's creation exists at the intersection of classic radio dramas and concept albums, utilizing songs, dialogue and narration to find the core of a universal human truth about the power of stories to facilitate connection, even when you feel most alone.

“’The Orbiting Human Circus’ is something that I’m spending billions of hours (working on), I sit all day and I’m in that world," said Koster. "And it’s always kind of been a nice dream, you always feel like there are other people in that world with you and that’s kind of the magic of it, the audience. And you always hope, I think, secretly, that it will be as rich and meaningful a place to go to for somebody else because really you’re in your room, alone in it yourself, just like they are.”

"The Orbiting Human Circus in Naughty Till New Years" from Night Vale Presents and WNYC Studios releases new episodes every other Wednesday, starting Nov. 6. For more information, visit www.orbitinghumancircus.com.

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