Young Fathers Create a Powerful Ballad and Dance Track with “In My View” (Singles Going Steady)

Adriane Pontecorvo: With “In My View”, Scottish trio Young Fathers performs a masterful balancing act, turning a powerful ballad into a lightly banging dance track and back again. In the background, contrasting images of cool strength and emotional beauty make for an emotionally provocative visual experience. Underlying the lyrics is a little bit of existentialist melancholy – a crucial element in any good pop song. [9/10]

Chris Ingalls: The keyboards and the programming provide a rich, warm bed of sound, and the percussion (both real and artificial) provides a lot for the listener to chew on. But it’s also a catchy, smart composition. It’s a really good pop song with a lot of exotic ear candy. [7/10]

Tristan Kneschke: This soulful, pounding single from Young Fathers is a bitter statement from Edinburgh. Despite the video’s beautiful cinematography, there is a rawness in its vignettes (though what’s with the guy at the table?). This is probably one of the most cynical things you will see in a while. The video breaks the fourth wall with clips showing what happened between takes, along with titles listing the ways to supposedly make a good video, undercutting the power built up in the preceding minutes. The actors, sets, and even the tears become exposed, revealing the latent artificiality of cinema. But this move – not to mention showing all the band members receiving heavy makeup – doesn’t do anybody any favors, instead deflating the video’s seriousness and preventing any lasting potency. [7/10]

Jedd Beaudoin: It’s alright. Something I’d probably groove to for 15 seconds while shopping for clothes but it kind of ends there. The drag-y quality upsets the stomach on repeated listens. [6/10]

Robert Evers: A lovely pop gem. Enjoyment improved upon repeated listens. Video possibly NSFW. [8/10]

John Garratt: The percussion part owns this song. All else is repetition. [5/10]

SCORE: 7.00