MusicReview

The View: Exorcism of Youth – Rousing choruses, but this could be any noughties indie band

The band’s longevity has arguably been at the expense of progress

Exorcism of Youth by The View
Exorcism of Youth by The View
Exorcism of Youth
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Artist: The View
Genre: Pop
Label: Cooking Vinyl

Until recently you may have been surprised to hear that The View were still active. Although they re-formed in 2022, following a seven-year hiatus, it looked as if their reunion might be short-lived after footage of a mid-gig punch-up between Kyle Falconer, the band’s frontman, and Kieran Webster, their bassist, went viral in May. The pair later dismissed the spat as a “a brotherly bust-up that went too far” and have ploughed ahead with plans for their sixth album.

Exorcism of Youth sounds as if it has benefited from the experience the Dundee band have built up since their 2007 debut album, when many people dismissed them as NME-lauded “indie landfill”: this is an album that is better than it ought to be. Production by Youth lends some much-needed mettle to songs such as the 1960s shimmy of Shovel in His Hands and Neon Lights, while the bustling twang of The Wonder of It All is pleasingly catchy and the soft synth throb of Tangled treads a distinctly 1975-esque line.

That said, as hummable and melodic as this toe-tappy indie-rock collection is – and as capable as The View are of writing a rousing chorus – there is a sense that this could be any band from the mid- to late-noughties indie scene. Songs such as the dreadfully dated Footprints in the Sand linger for all the wrong reasons. “If it ain’t broke ...” has brought The View far, but their longevity has arguably been at the expense of progress.

Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy

Lauren Murphy is a freelance journalist and broadcaster. She writes about music and the arts for The Irish Times