New : The View - 'Cheeky for a Reason'

2007 suddenly seems like a LONG time ago. Looking back though it was a pretty good time in my life - I'd met a whole bunch of new friends, left one job and started another that pretty much sealed my long term commitment to Paris and widened my horizons in more ways than one. The soundtrack to that particular period was The View's brilliant début 'Hats Off to the Buskers' which has to rival 'Original Pirate Material' as my favourite record of the noughties - it also represented the final wave of commercial success for chart-friendly British indie, crashing in at the top of the album charts early in the year after 'Same Jeans' gave them a #3 hit and set them up for a period of commercial paydirt in the wake of other mid-decade success stories like Kaiser Chiefs, Arctic Monkeys and Bloc Party. It wasn't to be though - their singles abruptly ceased to chart and although their stonking follow-up 'Which Bitch?' went top five in 2009, they seemed to go from scene leaders to the back burner in a matter of months. The intervening period has seen Crystal Castles, Animal Collective, The Horrors, Mumford and Sons and The Vaccines (in that order) redefine the musical landscape with clever bugger electro and public school indie guitar music, producing some great records but making it almost inconceivable that a band like The View could ever make it in such a climate. 'Cheeky for a Reason' won't return them to their glory days of chart success but that's only because there isn't much of a market this stuff these days - had they dropped this back in the days of radio-friendly guitar music for festival crowds six pints deep and hungry for singalong indie anthems, it would almost certainly have been a stonewall hit. After last year's underwhelming 'Bread and Circuses' (which I even included in last year's 'worst of' list, such was the sense of disappointment that it wasn't much cop), they've regrouped and hit back with a much more focussed and fiery collection of indie guitar pop anthems which plays to their strengths without getting bogged down with too much rock star baggage (they are, after all, still only in their early 20s so there are no divorces or rehab stints to moan about). They've certainly played up the 'Cheeky' angle in the title too - the first five tracks race by in a blitz of yowled vocals, rumbling drum tracks and taut guitar riffs in the same vein as their début, only relenting towards the middle of the record for some mellower material. Melodic gems like 'Anfield Row' and 'Sour Little Sweetie' have their place on indie dancefloors alongside the new Cribs material whilst off the wall tracks like the Kieran Webster fronted 'Hole in the Bed' and acoustic set-closer 'Tacky Tattoo' recall the more imaginative tangents of their second record. Lyrics wise there's perhaps a tacit acknowledgement of the passing of time since their heyday - mellow head-nodder 'The Clock' sees the band admit that time won't wait for them but storming lead single 'How Long' turns the question back on the listener : 'How long has it been/Since you fell in love with a boy like me?'. The View know full well that their cheeky charms are needed now more than ever, and if public opinion turns back to them amidst the decidedly less cheeky likes of Noah and the Whale and Ed Sheeran then this new album could provide the soundtrack to at least one more summer. As they said back on 'Same Jeans', 'You'll be amazed at what you can achieve in a year' - having seemed dead and buried twelve months ago, The View sound full of life in 2012 and ready to brighten your life up just like they did when they first appeared five years ago. The world is undoubtedly a better place with them in it.

Check out : 'Anfield Row', arguably the sweetest cut on offer here.