Overfamiliar though their wares may seem in the current climate (those wares being rag-and-bone, Libertines-esque ripped-jean rock), there hasn’t in recent memory been a new guitar band who have set their stall out with a pair of singles anywhere near as strong as The View’s. Both included here, ‘Wasted Little DJs’ and ‘Superstar Tradesman’ – the former a melodically sophisticated delight, the latter a classic tale of escapism in the vein of Oasis’s ‘Rock ’N’ Roll Star’ – have served, along with a never-ending string of requisitely chaotic live shows (and the now-ubiquitous audience chant of ‘The View! The View! The View are on fire!’), to elevate the Dundee quartet to the status of indie scene darlings.
Central to their appeal is singer Kyle Falconer’s high-pitched rasp, which lifts the heads-down garage rock of opener ‘Comin’ Down’ out of the gutter, breathes life into the La’s-esque bounce of ‘Don’t Tell Me’ and makes ‘The Don’s’ couplets (‘He was taking his piano lessons/We were on half an E’) sound truly charming. He’s got one of those voices: instantly recognisable and able to make his band’s lesser moments (the campfire strum of ‘Face For The Radio’) good and its good moments (latest single ‘Same Jeans’) great.
Not that this is by any means a one-man show. Producer Owen Morris (of ‘Definitely Maybe’ fame) has done a fine job of capturing the energy of their live shows, while The View themselves leap from the frenetic ska of ‘Wasteland’ to ‘Dance Into The Night”s pop shuffle with effortless ease. And though, at 14 tracks, ‘Hats Off To The Buskers’ may not be quite startling enough throughout to maintain the furious momentum of those first two incredible singles, it is nonetheless an exciting, engaging debut, and a far more varied record than you might expect. Not quite the new ‘Best Guitar Album Since “Definitely Maybe”!’, then, but far, far closer than most have come.
