Which Bitch? review

Paulo Nutini sings on Covers on this album. You can see why The View asked him to. Tied with Kyle Falconer’s own raspy vocals it’s like audio twins getting together, although one’s gone a bit off the rails and had a harder paper round!

There’s a fair mix of musical genre’s thrown in to this album to catch your attention and grows the band from their derivative indie beginnings. One Off Pretender has the rabble rousing chorus, with a weird rapping bit thrown in for good measure. Straight after is Unexpected, bringing everything down to the sombre, layering strings and acoustic guitars into a moving sound. Later there’s the ubiquitous electronic tinged tracks, and some good old, belted out rock ‘n’ roll.

The View are at their best when embracing their Scotishness, the front man’s voice offering a nice juxtaposition to the sound of their music, and, in its distinctiveness, acting as a focal point much as Kelly Jones does for the Stereophonics.

The second half of the album definitely holds itself over the openers, Distant Doubloon having an almost classical vibe, before the band come back to more familiar territory and let their guitars lead.

By Chris Riding, Narc Media, 2nd Februrary 2009