:: The View - Which Bitch?

The View

Move over The Fratellis and Arctic Monkeys. There is a new ‘catchy-rock’ band about to take over the charts. Scottish band The View deliver a fine album with ‘Which Bitch?’ an album that is so catchy that you will find yourself playing it over and over. You know a band is onto a good thing when even the joke song they kick off the album with sounds great. ‘Which Bitch?’ starts off with ‘Typical Time 2’ - a harmonica driven blue-grass track that actually sounds okay. They then launch into ‘5Rebbeccas’ which is heavy rock fused with a strong electronic sound…but is lead singer Kyle Falconer that makes this a terrific song. ‘One Of The Pretenders’ has a Mike Skinner feel to the vocals and this could well be the big hit off this album as it is catchy as all-hell. The one thing that will hit you about The View is the fact that they are a band who are willing to take chances with their sound. ‘Unexpected’ finds them using classical instruments while ‘Gem Of A Bird’ is pure folk music. But the thing that does standout the most about ‘Which Bitch?’ is the catchiness of it. 80’s-sounding ‘Double Yellow Lines’ will you singing along, as will the potentially chart-topping ‘Temptation Dice’ and ‘Shock Horror’ which deserves to be the next single off the album. And while The View do something cheesy like ‘Distant Doubloon’ (which they pull off by the way), they show what great musicians they are with some terrific guitar work on ‘Give Back The Sun’ and a great punk beat shining through on ‘Glass Smash’. This is the album that will launch The View onto the world stage.

(****)(4 Stars) (Sony) Dave Griffiths