Featuring confidently melodic vocals that reminiscent of Neko Case or Eleanor Friedberger, “The Peanut Specialist” is a bouncily infectious rocker with a chipper enthusiasm reminiscent of The New Pornographers; from the playful distorted bass line to the lively synth accompaniments (the solo around the three-minute mark is especially wonderful), it’s a track that’s hard not to love. The phase-out ending, with the melody constructed down to fading keys, provides a nice finale to a track that grows from a sound reminiscent of ’70s folk (intro) to a fresh indie-rock output with an ample variety of hooks.
The self-description of capturing “the spirit of Motown girls’ bands and dominated by futuristic synthetic climates” is spot on as well, with a lyrical focus on “the construction of a (real) safe located in Norway that contains seeds from around the world (in the case of an urgent need to reseed a country ravaged by war, a typhoon, or even the apocalypse).” Orouni decided to replace his own voice with the female tones of Amélie and Clémentine (Water Babies), Dorothée Hannequin (The Rodeo) and Barbara Silverstone. It’s a fantastic production creative choice that leads to a great success in “The Peanut Specialist”.
There’s a music video for the track as well, below:
