James Blake was the somewhat surprising winner of last night’s Mercury Prize. Somewhat surprising because the nominated list was probably the most popular list of albums drawn together for the prize for quite a while. Still, awards are made for surprises and Overgrown, Blake’s murkier singular second album won out. There was a lot of talk on the More4 broadcast about giving it to an album which needs more ears. I don’t know how many copies of the album were sold in the UK but I’d imagine there’s potential for new more mainstream-tuned ears for the album, if people are willing to give it the time it needs.
Coincidentally, this week Blake released a remix of ‘Come Thru’, a track off his emotional peer Drake’s latest album Nothing Was The Same in which he injected some Blake-esque electronic eeriness. Drake plays the O2 on March 18th btw.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
