The Guardian Hats Off... Review

Rated 3/5

The pre-Britpop trend known as the new wave of new wave is in the distant enough past to merit a revival, and the View are getting the first round in.

Despite recalling the nanosecond when These Animal Men were contenders, the Dundonian quartet are being greeted as something refreshingly new, featuring in numerous tips for 2007 lists. Go figure. However, they're not without their charms. Their lyrical focus is Dundee's below-the-radar denizens - nicknamed Skag Trendy, Superstar Tradesman, the Don, etc - and the cast of characters are sketched with flair, then forcefully put to music.

It's tuneful power-pop almost all the way, bar the odd diversion: a brush with speed metal on Comin' Down, a jot of country banjo on Typical Time. Same Jeans, the noveltyish single that looks like breaking them, is monstrously catchy and sealed with a Dundee accent - the View in spades, in other words. This year's big thing? We'll see.

Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, Friday January 19, 2007