The View - “Woman of the Year”

SXSW 2024 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 7

Pairs Well With…Kiwi Jr., Big Star, Fountains of Wayne

Power pop with two capital Ps, The View’s latest record Exorcism of Youth is unrelentingly catchy from note one. Built with hooks upon hooks, The View take an alt-rock foundation and drown it in sugar, the result being a collection of earworms that hit like a warm hug. The sweetness that pours out of the Scottish band’s songwriting is refreshing and infectious, harkening back to 60s hits and electrifying it with the slightest sheen of grit. Currently a trio, The View’s studied and experienced sound comes from almost twenty years of being a band together, Exorcism of Youth their sixth LP and first since a break after 2015’s Ropewalk. Add in some twists of Scottish folk rounds and The View display as both reliable and defining their own accessible lane. While peaking in popularity off their Mercury-nominated Hats Off to the Buskers, Exorcism of Youth is arguably their strongest front-to-back record in their catalog and one that should make for a sing-a-long and clap-a-long set at SXSW this year. (Kevin McStravick)