The nominees for this year’s Mercury Music Prize have been announced. This year’s shortlist looks strong, but maybe a little obvious focussing more on mainstream alternative acts than genre specific niche artists in folk, electronica or jazz et al. It includes nods for Anna Calvi, Cate Le Bon, Dave, Fontaines D.C, Idles, Little Simz, 1975 and Slowthai and more, see the full list below.
This year’s ceremony will take place at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London on September 19. Last year’s winners were Wolf Alice for their album Visions Of A Life.
The full list of nominees for the 2019 Mercury Music Prize have been announced this morning (July 25) – check out the list below. W
Anna Calvi – ‘Hunter’
Black Midi – ‘Schlagenheim’
Cate Le Bon – ‘Reward’
Dave – ‘Psychodrama’
Foals – ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1’
Fontaines D.C. – ‘Dogrel’
Idles – ‘Joy as an Act of Resistance’
Little Simz – ‘Grey Area’
Nao – ‘Saturn’
Seed Ensemble – ‘Driftglass’
Slowthai – ‘Nothing Great About Britain’
The 1975 – ‘A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships’
Geoff Taylor, Chief Executive of BPI, said of this year’s nominees: “These 12 Albums are essential listening! Our outstanding expert panel has selected the most original, urgent and ambitious British and Irish records of the last twelve months, and I’ll be on tenterhooks with everyone else to find out the final Album of the Year when the judges meet again during the live show on September 19th.
“We are proud to work with our partners the BBC, Hyundai and Amazon Music to support the Prize and I congratulate all the shortlisted artists on their achievement.”
What do you make of the shortlist? Who missed out? Who should win?
