The shortlist for the annual Mercury Music Prize 2021 has just been announced on Lauren Laverne’s BBC Radio 6 show today and these are the 12 albums nominated.
- Arlo Parks – ‘Collapsed in Sunbeams’
- BERWYN – ‘DEMOTAPE/VEGA’
- Black Country, New Road – ‘For the first time’
- Celeste – ‘Not Your Muse’
- Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – ‘Promises’
- Ghetts – ‘Conflict of Interest’
- Hannah Peel – ‘Fir Wave’
- Laura Mvula – ‘Pink Noise’
- Mogwai – ‘As the Love Continues’
- Nubya Garcia – ‘SOURCE’
- SAULT – ‘Untitled (Rise)’
- Wolf Alice – ‘Blue Weekend’
First impressions are: great to see Sault, Floating Points / Pharoah Sanders and Ghetts on the list. The Hannah Peel album is great too! Always good to see a long-standing artist like Mogwai feature.
Biggest exclusion? Dry Cleaning (if they entered). No Black Midi either.
The overall winner of the 2021 Hyundai Mercury Prize will be announced on Thursday 9 September at the Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith.
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Albums by British artists with a UK release date between 18 July 2020 and 16 July 2021 are eligible for the 2021 Prize, though previous years Irish albums were eligible, though it’s not clear whether there is a change this year to exclude Irish artists.
If they were eligible, you would have expected nods for either Fontaines DC or For Those I Love.
As ever, all nominated albums have to be entered for consideration by the label or artist.
Here are this year’s judges:
Anna Calvi – Musician & Songwriter;
Annie Mac – Broadcaster & DJ;
Danielle Perry – Broadcaster & Writer;
Gemma Cairney – Broadcaster & DJ;
Hazel Wilde (from Lanterns on the Lake) – Musician & Songwriter;
Jamie Cullum – Musician & Broadcaster;
Jeff Smith – Head of Music, 6 Music & Radio 2;
Michael Kiwanuka – Musician & Songwriter;
Mike Walsh – Music Consultant;
Phil Alexander – Creative Director, Kerrang!/Contributing Editor, Mojo;
Tshepo Mokoena – Editorial Director, VICE.com;
Will Hodgkinson – Chief Rock & Pop Critic, The Times.
The Chair of the judging panel is Jeff Smith.
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.
