Local Sleepers Club, Vol. 1

We’re taking to you dreamland in our first collaborative release with the Sleep With Me podcast, featuring bedtime stories inspired by Local Files Club releases Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop and Salt Bloom. Whether you prefer to fall asleep to Scooter’s creaky, dulcet tones with or without ambient music and sound effects is up to you, thanks to the “Super Deluxe” versions produced by creators Oliver Morris and Justin Hellstrom.

Local Sleepers Club, Vol. 1 is available for pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp.

Sleep With Me is known for its creative and sleepy recaps of both TV shows like Doctor Who and independent fiction podcasts like Alba Salix, Alice Isn’t Dead, and We Fix Space Junk. These bedtime stories meld Scooter’s idiosyncratic flair for asides and tangents with the plot from the original, creating something brand new in the process. It’s a fascinating study in adaptation. How do you take a show that’s meant to be engaging and thrilling and turn it into something that lulls listeners to sleep?

When it came to adapting Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop and Salt Bloom for this collaboration, we turned that idea back on its head. What if we gave Scooter’s story back to the original producers to add their own sound effects and music to? This continued re-adaptation is an exploration into the nature of audio storytelling and its varied purposes: entertainment, companionship, and sleep, to name a few. These “Super Deluxe” editions blur those lines and land somewhere wholly unique.

We hope that you’ll enjoy both of these distinct ways to experience Scooter’s work, whether you’re interested in exploring the process of interpretation and reinterpretation in audio storytelling or you just need help falling asleep.

Drew Ackerman, Sleep With Me:

“I love making crossovers or ‘tribute’ episodes because I get to have this intimate connection to the story along with the creative constraint of gently and respectfully ‘sleepifying’ the story, navigating through any obstacles that might keep people away. In a sense, it’s more like a cover version of a song, but if I was trying to cover it with just a kazoo and one of those kids xylophones with the wheels and smiley face.

Sleep With Me stories work best when I, as the narrator, get to ‘go’ somewhere and bring the listener along with me. I think that is why both of these projects were such a great fit, because both stories were wonderful to get inside of.

With Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop, there is such a specific place and character, it was like I was on vacation traveling along with Ms. Shipton. Watching her doing her best to be of service, with craft, but none of the characters make it easy. She’s treated as an outsider, but she still tries to help. I think that conflict is something sleepless people can feel connected to. I would go to her for sleep help if I came across her and Misery in the countryside.

Also, any chance I can get to meow is great.

With Salt Bloom, getting inside of SARC-17 felt like a digital meow. I really enjoyed the journey in Salt Bloom, not just all the details but the contrasts and misdirections, the love of/for a rover, and below that, there is something else, something more… the yearning, having a mission but being conflicted and feeling drawn somewhere unknown, changing, deteriorating, all of those things pulling at SARC-17 that is relatable to anyone dealing with sleeplessness.”

Oliver Morris, Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop:

“My approach to the Super Deluxe was to find that liminal line. For me, the joy of the original Shipton was its quiet but expressive soundscapes. It’s the countryside, but it’s many shades of the countryside. Revisiting the piece allowed me to reflect on my love of small town Britain. Where towns meet cows. A road leads from our brick nests to rolling countryside. And in particular it reminded me of how much of my home town is reflected in the show. So the nuances of the different atmoses were important.

The music was trickier—threading the needle between soporific and melodic was difficult. I’m a Jazzboi at heart. I like odd noises, but I learned from Scoot’s adaption to tiptoe around those things that might disturb the dozing listener: nightmares, priests, burning people, that kind of thing. So I had to stay away from the notes that were too ‘interesting’, but carry the storyline through with single instruments, touching on a few melodic themes found in the original story.

It was a pleasure to work on, and I hope not the last time I get to put my hands on a project like this.”

Justin Hellstrom, Salt Bloom:

“For millennia, sounds of the sea have lulled, hushed, and susurrated both sailors and the land-bound into deep realms of sleep. That sh-shsh-shhhhhh layered over Drew’s narration of this little robot will definitely send a squid or two into your next dream. The sound design for this Super Deluxe edition was meant to sound like it was happening in another room—if that room was locked inside the failing mind of an aquatic probe. There were lots of bits from the original Salt Bloom project I couldn’t use, and many of those found their way in here. Drifting victory trumpets, some wavering piano, and big wandering atmospheres. If robots have dreams, this is what they sound like.”

Tracklist

1. Sleep With Me 1424 - Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop | Crossover
2. A Caravan of Cats and Cauldron Keepers (Ms. Shipton Super Deluxe)
3. Sleep With Me 1434 - Salt Bloom | Crossover
4. Crystal Crunching Delight (Salt Bloom Super Deluxe)

Credits

Sleep With Me is hosted by Drew Ackerman, and is produced by Russell Sperberg.

A Caravan of Cats and Cauldron Keepers features sound design and music from Oliver Morris, who also wrote the original script to Ms. Shipton’s Travelling Tea Shop.

Crystal Crunching Delight features sound design and music from Justin Hellstrom, who also wrote the original script to Salt Bloom.

Local Sleepers Club, Vol. 1 was produced for Local Files Club by Adam Cecil.

About Sleep With Me

Drew Ackerman is the creator and host of Sleep With Me, the one-of-a-kind bedtime story podcast featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Buzzfeed, Mental Floss, Bloomberg, and more.

Born out of Drew’s childhood insomnia, Sleep With Me was inspired by late-night comedy radio, which was the only thing that helped him fall asleep. Each episode is a unique storytelling experience that helps ease the pain of insomnia with the relief of laughing. Drew's stories on the show are inspired by his childhood as the oldest of six children and past jobs as a fuzzy dice and iron-on patch salesperson, fruit fly monitor for the State of California, and librarian for one of the largest jails in the country.

Sleep With Me is more than just something to fall asleep to—it’s a companion for those who feel alone in the deep dark night and just need someone to tell them a bedtime story. And thanks to Drew’s relentlessly positive attitude, the podcast has gathered a strong community of listeners who support each other through sleepless nights.