Cardboard Computer have been releasing free interludes between each of their excellent Kentucky Route Zero episodes. First there was interactive art exhibition Limits and Demonstrations, then came theatrical experience The Entertainment, while today brings Here And There Along The Echo, which requires a bit more explanation. It's a phone. An actual phone, listed on eBay for quite a lot of money. A phone that only rings one number (apparently), which connects to an automated phone service narrated by Will Oldham (this Will Oldham?)
I know what it connects to because there's a digital, game version of said phone, which you can download for PC, Mac or Linux at the above link. This automated phone service is full of beautiful rambling stories and recitations related to the evocative setting of the main episodes, in particular to the Bureau of Lost Tourism, which is mentioned in the series a few times.
Others are saying that you can ring this number from a real life phone—the number being (270) 301-5797—but as I live in the UK and I barely know how to use Skype, I'm going to leave that for others to discover.
Like the previous interludes, it's not entirely clear how this relates to the beguiling story of the main games, but it's doubtless full of clues and references to their gradually unfolding narrative, and I can't wait to uncover these after a bit more poking around. It's also an entirely lovely thing to listen to, regardless of whether you understand much of what's being said.
