I had previously seen the artwork of Simon Stalenhag before but never explored beyond noting its future-techno/slightly-dystopian landscapes. On a whim I gave the Amazon Prime series of the same name a try. I binged all eight one-hour episodes over the weekend because it was such a wonderfully deep story that relies more on subtle unspoken moments than the slightly retro-future technologies the inhabitants of Mercer Ohio interact with. Given some of the technologies in this world I had a hard time at first understanding in what era the story was placed. It seemed to be from an older era than some other recent sci-fi-esque series like  Severance , which also feature mixed retro-future technology. I spotted many old school CRT monitors, no references to wireless digital networking technologies and at least one 5 1/4” floppy disk based 1980s era IBM desktop computer. Watching the series lead to a wonderful rabbit-hole of YouTube reflection and explainer videos. After watching the trailer, I’d suggest doing the series than maybe listening to the Music from the Loop in video below and THEN the explainer YouTube videos listed in the Sources section below. Links to the original art books that inspired the series are also listed below.

Tales from the Loop is being streamed on Prime Video.

Enjoy.

tales from the loop artwork by simon stalenhag
tales from the loop artwork by simon stalenhag

Sources: