There is something rather deliciously and creatively cool about Inside View’s full debut album Let Go.  After a few years of releasing the obligatory e.p’s  it was perhaps time that the band consisting of Anthony O’Brien on vocals and guitar, Danny Heaton on guitar and vocals, Johnny Waring on bass and vocals and Sean Murphy on drums, released an album to an awaiting world and the result is  a record of some magnificence and beauty.

Although Anthony and Danny have been scribbling away and playing since the very start, the addition of John Waring and Sean Murphy in last year have given the band a balance that gives the music a gentle almost artisan feel  which reminds the listener of a softer, more humane feel to the music. The vocal style that Anthony O’Brien provides for songs such as Picture Perfect, Heaven and Hell and This Is Not The End Of The World captures the imagination fully. It gives the listener the image of the late 60’s and early 70’s Californian style but with none of the pretentiousness and excess baggage that can be associated with that era and almost tarnished beyond redemption with.

The best way to describe Let Go and the band themselves is part rock, part ethereal manliness. Poetic licence but with a firm unmistakable grasp on what it is shake their audience and their preconceptions but with the idealism still unshakeable. The music doesn’t need a degree to understand but the band and therefore the album are just worthy of listening to quietly and with smile on your face.

Let Go won’t be lauded or awarded the best debut album by London-centric and “look” obsessed journalists but it certainly has all the hallmarks and subtle quality that makes music a passion and just simply a joy to listen to.

Ian D. Hall