Subterraneans: The forgotten stories underneath the heart of capitalism

Have You Heard? is where the Pod Bible team meet the people behind the podcasts you may not have heard of, but you should hear…

Whenever I hear someone claim “I am so obsessed with this podcast and I want everyone to know about it!” I have to add it to my queue, but even more so when it’s a independent show. Subterraneans was Suchandrika Chakrabarti’s Podcast of 2022, and her description of the eerie monologues about London, combined with the social and political issues that surround housing in the UK, intrigued me. I recently got around to listening to the new series, and immediately contacted the creator, James Thompson, to find out more…

What’s your podcast elevator pitch?

The first words I wrote in my design document were “NPR-style overproduced podcast about cryptids”, but it’s evolved a little since then. Subterraneans is a show about the strange creatures and forgotten stories that live underneath the bloody, violent heart of capitalism. It’s a mix of history and folklore, scored to nightmarish synths and haunting echoes, which drags you under the earth with it. It is not for the faint of heart, but it finds moments of hope in this dark place; in stories of resistance, of joy, and of solidarity. Let’s join hands and warm ourselves amongst the dirt.

Why did you decide to start podcasting in the first place?

I am a writer and a musician, so podcasting is a natural fit for my style of storytelling. It also lets me play audio games with the listener; since everything you hear on the show comes from me one way or another, I can completely control the experience, dropping strange and unsettling sounds in and out in a way that’s hard to avoid. I want to frighten people on the bus.

Which podcasts do you take inspiration from?

As per the original design document, I wanted to do a version of This American Life or S-Town that takes folklore and horror seriously, in order to pull the rug out from under you. I’m always trying to borrow legitimacy from the scripted podcast medium, from serious journalism and embedded writing, and every time I get an email from someone asking for more details about some aspect of a story or my research then it makes my entire week. My biggest inspiration, in that way, is actually found footage horror; Occult (2009) has a direct line to my interests with the show.

Where do you find the inspiration for your stories?

Dreams, nightmares, and long walks. Truthfully, many of the subjects come to me when I see an interesting building or architectural feature and start walking down the garden path in my mind. I also have a close-knit and wonderful group of friends & loved ones who keep me grounded and send me strange happenings from around the city; without them, I simply couldn’t do it. My other major cultural influences would include Junji Ito, Mark Fisher, Karl Marx, Judith Butler, Rei Kawakubo, Jordan Peele, Park Chan-wook, and Kim Ki-young.

Why podcasting? What is it about the medium that you like?

Musically speaking, I’m a textural thinker; it’s the reason why I love harsh noise music. There’s something about thick, swirling, woozy textures washing over a listener that just feels so satisfying and evocative to me. Podcasting lets me explore this type of feeling while giving listeners an entry point and an anchor in my voice, in a way that I think mirrors the type of layered and complicated stories I want to tell. Gradually layering in complexity on top of complexity, leaving doors open, and disrupting the flow of sound with the unexpected or uncomfortable; that’s something you can really achieve very powerfully through an audio medium.

Also, it’s cheap and I can do it entirely by myself. That’s important.

Can you give our readers a point of entry? Is it best to start at S1 E1, or can they dive in at any point?

I normally link to S1E4 for new listeners. It’s about super basements in Kensington and Hampstead, and the strange sounds you can hear from beneath when exploring the dilapidated properties on Billionaires Row. That said, almost every episode is self-contained, so you can run them in order or jump around depending on your personal interests!

Listen to Subterraneans now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other popular podcast apps >>