The View - Are better than ever on the new album

June 9th 2023

Album Release

The View are back!!!

When The View reconvened last year after five years apart, the three old-friends realised just how much they have missed… well, everything about being in a band: the rush of seeing an audience react to their performances, the camaraderie of being together, a simple jam idea evolving into a fully fledged song. A run of comeback gigs at Glasgow’s o2 Academy saw all 10,000 tickets sold in advance, the fan reaction was overwhelming and they were even joined on stage by an old friend in the shape of ‘Line of Duty’ actor Martin Compston.

After all that, how could you resist wanting more? Especially as their rehearsals for the shows saw the band conjure up a wealth of new song ideas just like they did back when they first started out. And so The View today announce that ‘Exorcism of Youth’ their first album since 2015 will be released on June 9th via Cooking Vinyl. Kyle and bandmates Kieran Webster (Bass / Vocals) and Pete Reilly (Guitar) departed their homes in Scotland to record the record in the inspiring surroundings of Granada, Spain, with the assistance of a top tier producer in the shape of the Grammy Award winner Youth (The Verve, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Charlatans).

They returned with ‘Exorcism of Youth’ in the bag, a record which combines the raucous energy of The View’s early work with some poignant slowburners drawn from personal experience, and Kyle’s gift for lyricism which is equal parts observational, witty and insightful. The View launch the album by sharing its lead single ‘Feels Like’, which was premiered yesterday by Jo Whiley at Radio 2. The band’s fiery energy ignites the song in a blaze of melody before hitting the kind of instantly irresistible hook with which they’ve made their name. It’s a track perfectly built for upcoming shows too, with its breakdown sure to be an immensely atmospheric moment when they hit summer festivals.

Elsewhere, the album darts from highlight to highlight, taking in a cocktail of 60's Pop and Punky punch on ‘The Wonder Of It All’, strutting and swaggering on ‘Neon Nights’, and channelling driving, anthemic Rock like a trio of Scottish Springsteens on ‘Woman of the Year’. At times, though, it represents an evolution for the band too, with the sweeping strings of ‘Black Mirror’ and the darker alt-pop production of ‘Footprints in the Sand’. Ultimately ‘Exorcism of Youth’ is where The View should be at this stage in their lives: still burning with the passion of youth, but with the confidence and control that comes from having been around the block and, in the process, learned from the experience.

In 2007, The View’s debut album ‘Hats off to Buskers’ went straight to No.1 and soon reached Platinum status. Further buoyed by critical acclaim including a Mercury Prize nomination and NME making glowing comparisons with The Stooges and The Libertines, ‘Hats off to Buskers’ also took The View into the singles charts with the No.3 smash and instant indie classic ‘Same Jeans’ plus the top twenty hits ‘Wasted little DJs’ and ‘Superstar Tradesman’. Two of their subsequent four albums ‘Which Bitch?’ and ‘Cheeky For A Reason’ also reached the top ten, while their previous album ‘Ropewalk’, was produced by Albert Hammond Jr. of The Strokes.