Last night saw the annual Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) award ceremony held, in a sweltering heatwave, in Glasgow’s Barrowlands. Lifting the award this year was Young Fathers after being selected from a shortlist of ten by a panel of industry judges.
From humble beginnings recording in a basement in Edinburgh this already fairly prolific trio (three albums so far) have managed to garner respect across the board and clearly had what it took to woo the judges. The band like to distance themselves from genres such as Scottish hip-hop or urban, and its apparent that they have wide and varied influences on listening to their music. It’s also clear from the nominations along with the eventual winner that Scotland really does produce a wildly varied output of musical genres. With acts as diverse as Edwyn Collins, The Pastels, Steve Mason, Mogwai, Boards of Canada and Chvrches all appearing on the shortlist everything from indie to electro and hip-hop is covered.
