The View - Cheeky for a Reason Review

Oh, lad’s rock, you had such promise! Yet all you’ve done is throw bands atop the never decreasing pile on the Indie Landfill after the initial big bang.

And unfortunately for them, no band quite encompasses that trope more than The View. Starting off with NME’s best song of 2006 and a surprisingly consistent debut; the Scottish foursome have suffered a steady decrease in popularity and a severe lack of radio play.

Of course it hasn’t helped that with three albums under their belts; The View seems intent of playing the game of seeing just how far a band can possibly fall at a steady speed. But hey, I’ll give them a chance! I mean, sure, even at its worse; it’s bound to have something good. Heck; Bread and Circuses had some decent songs but the less said about that album, the better. 

But against my optimism; Cheeky for a Reason represents The View’s further climb up the pile, towards a summit of mediocrity. 

See, the main problem concerning Cheeky for a Reason is the ever apparent sense of déjá vu with each View album. It starts off with a bang that tricks the listener with false promises (How Long), it has the radio-friendly-unit shifter for the pop scene (Bunker (Solid Ground)), it has the serious song that tries to show a level of maturity, a coming of age if you will (Tacky Tattoo/The Clock) and for brief breaks, all sounds good. 

However, for a large portion of the album, where songs fail to create an identity that makes it such an unmemorable, pandering and dull listen. While I’ll admit there is a slight maturity to the sound and even the lyrics offer different subject matter than living for the weekend or girls being heartless; it simply boils down to the tempo being decreased by a significant percentage and having songs stretched to double their desired length. 

Whether it’s Anfield Row, with lyrics that offer intimacy but music that stays firmly in the middle of the road (or Row…har har har!) or Hole in the Bed which tries to create a sing-a-long anthem but drags on for ages, the duration of the album is frighteningly long and showcases far more flaws in the band’s make-up then the albums preceding it.

That and the album is once again a return to the jagged guitars, the simple but effective percussion, part screamy, part harmonic vocals, but there’s no distinction. There’s nothing weird and wonderful like Distant Doubloon or epic like Tragic Magic, instead; any traces of experimentation are long gone. 

Simply put; it’s just your bog standard indie rock album with barely any distinguishing features and while this formula has worked well Hats Off to the Buskers, here, it almost sounds like a half-arsed, by the numbers album of complacency. 

As a band that finds itself in the never-ending descend of continuing decline; The View’s Cheeky for a Reason is a slow, dull and generic album with minimal traces of the sparks that made their debut and, even at a push Which Bitch? enjoyable pieces of work.

They may have been on fire in the five or six years before, but for now, the only thing The View can possibly burn; is atop the indie landfill.

4/10

H

@retcon_nation