Tuesday 26 July 2022

The 2022 Mercury Prize shortlist

Photo by Li Zhang on Unsplash

The Mercury Prize shortlist has just been announced (you can view the full list here) and I am, frankly, intrigued by this years selections. 

They range from Gwenno's Cornish language folk rock album Tresor to Wet Leg and Self Esteem to Harry Styles, via Little Simz and Kojey Radical. The inclusion of Nova Twins also makes me wonder if someone on the selection panel has been made aware of the work of the Hercury Prize in recent years.

Now that the list is out, speculation will inevitably start as to who the winner will be when the ceremony takes place in September, and the bookies will be drawing up their lists and odds. At this moment in time, my gut is saying Self Esteem might win, but in reality, the field is actually wide open.

Why? Because, with the exception of Little Simz (who was also shortlisted for her debut album), none of the  shortlisted artists have ever been nominated before. And that's important because statistics show that artists nominated for the first time have a greater chance of winning than those who are being nominated for the first, second, third, fourth or fifth time. 

Seriously: They do.

Since the first Mercury Prize in 1992, 30 prizes have been awarded. Of those 30 awards:

24 artists won the award on their first nomination

3 artists won on their second nomination

2 artists won on their third nomination

Only one artist has ever won more than once, and that is PJ Harvey. She was first shortlisted in 1992 for her second album, Rid Of Me, was shortlisted again in 1995 for To Bring You My Love, and won for the first time in 2001 for Stories from the city, stories from the sea which was her third nomination. Her fourth nomination came in 2011 when she won an unprecedented second time with Let England Shake

With the exception of PJ Harvey (who is already an exception because she'd won before) nobody has ever been shortlisted for a fourth time and won.

Similarly, no one has ever been shortlisted for a fifth time and won.

And no one has ever been shortlisted more than five times.

In terms of whether it matters if you're being nominated for your first album, or a later one, this doesn't seem to have any bearing on winning. It's the status of first time shortlister that really counts. 

Thinking about it, it does make sense: Completely new or fairly new artists are more likely to be first time shortlisters and that means that there's not only a buzz around them but that they sound new and fresh. Wet Leg, who are nominated for the first time this year, would very much fall into this category. 

In past years, the Mercury Prize has been criticised for being too white and too male. When you break the stats down, the prize has been won by:

11 female artists or mixed gender acts

19 male acts

Similarly, of the 30 awards handed out so far:

11 BAME artists have won

19 white artists have won

As with all previous years, it will be interesting to observe how these debates play out this year. This years shortlist is still very white, but there are four BAME artists on it. There's also 7 female artists, if we count Jessie Buckley's collaboration with Bernard Butler. 

Another criticism that has been made concerns the entrance fee, which is £175 plus VAT. Which, despite the boost in sales and publicity Mercury nominated albums and artists receive, is a lot of money for small labels to fork out and may well impact the musical variety and diversity of the albums being put forward at the pre-shortlist stage of the awards process. Personally, I would have loved to see Gazel's Gazel's Book Of Souls be put forward for the 2020 prize, but it wasn't, and I completely understand why. It's easy to assume that others have also been put off paying as well.

Just in case you're wondering about some of the stats I've quoted, I can confirm that I worked them out for myself using information on previous shortlists that is available on the Mercury Prize website. If you want to check my working, please do. 

In terms of those who have been nominated the most without winning, Radiohead continue to hold the crown for this with 5 shortlisted albums and no wins. They are followed by Laura Marling who has 4 shortlisted albums and no wins. There's also 7 artists now who've been shortlisted 3 times without winning and, if record labels are playing the game, these stats are probably being taken into consideration when it comes to deciding whether to put an album forward for consideration or not.

If you are an artist being nominated for a fourth time, my advice would be to weigh up whether you want to attend the ceremony at all and, if you decide to do so, then go, do a good performance, have a good time... but don't bother to write an acceptance speech.

No one is being shortlisted for the fourth time this year, so this isn't going to be a dilemma anyone is going to have to face in 2022, but it may crop again in future years. Or not.

Zola Jesus - Desire (Official Music Video)


This beautifully stark piece is taken from the new Zola Jesus album, Arkhon. In a marked departure from her previous albums, Nika Danilova has collaborated in the creation of Arkhon and the sound seems at once both lighter and more textured as a result. Interesting times.

Monday 25 July 2022

Florence + The Machine - Free


When this, the fourth, of Florence + The Machine's pre-album release singles emerged in March, it seemed a marked contrast, both visually and musically, to it's three predecessors. The video made to accompany 'Free' embraces the natural humour of this frenetic electro pop song, which concerns itself with the day to day realities of anxiety. It is marked by the interplay between Welch (As Herself) and Bill Nighy (As Her Anxiety), and is refreshingly lacking in grandiosity. I like a bit of grandiosity in a Florence + The Machine video as much as anyone, but with 'Free' it feels right to be messier, and to strike a relatively unglamorous, funny and matter of fact tone.

As with all of the videos made to accompany tracks from Dance Fever, the video to 'Free' was filmed in Kyiv last year. Before the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian capital was making something of a reputation for itself as a video making destination. It's not clear at this stage whether the rest of the videos for tracks on Dance Fever have been filmed or not. This is not a minor point because, given the shared locations and characters featured in the four videos so far, it seems likely that a longform film was intended to be the eventual destination. This was also the case with the videos released to accompany the How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful album, which were eventually linked, added to, and released as the film The Odyssey in 2016.

We'll just have to see what happens next.

Sunday 24 July 2022

The Regrettes - Anxieties (Out Of Time) [Official Music Video]


The Regrettes third album, Further Joy, was released earlier this year. As with many artists during the pandemic, Further Joy sees the band in a more introspective writing space than previous. Following on from the pensive girl crush ode that was 'You're So Fucking Pretty', the band released 'Anxieties (Out Of Time)', which saw them reflecting on the unbearable pressures of modern life in a video that seemed to make an elegant salute to the imagery of the B52s. A modern pop classic.

Saturday 23 July 2022

Harkin - Here Again (Official Lyric Video)


A standout track from June's Honeymoon Suite album, 'Here Again' has a quiet, calm understated charm that feels uniquely Harkin. It builds gradually into an anthem, one that should endure.

Friday 22 July 2022

PIT PONY - Black Tar (Official Video)


Newcastle-Upon-Tyne band Pit Pony were making a lot of noise (in every sense) a couple of years ago, then they seemed to go quiet on us. This month has seen the release of their debut album, World To Me, a clear eyed, scathingly punk rock take on life in 2022. 'Black Tar', with its Stooges esque rhythms was an early single, and is still one of the strongest tracks on the album. It's a release that should see the band capitalise on their early momentum, and grace multiple venue and festival stages in the near future. 

Thursday 21 July 2022

Bloom Twins - Set Us Free


Last year I included two Belarusian acts in my end of year songs list. At the time, I still had hopes that the opposition (widely believed to be the true winners of the 2020 presidential election) would prevail in Belarus, but I see now that I underestimated Aleksandr Lukashenko's grip on power and his ability to terrorise, torture and suppress the population of Belarus.

What does this have to do with anything? Nothing very much really, but it provides a bit of context as to how the war in Ukraine has permeated everyday life, up to and including what we choose to listen to. 

I first became aware of Bloom Twins, a pair of Ukrainian twins now making music in London, as a result of an article the NME published just after Russia invaded Ukraine back in February. The article was basically a well researched list of Ukrainian artists readers should be supporting, and it included Bloom Twins.

'Set Us Free' was released after the Maiden protests and after Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, but before the full scale assault on Ukraine this year. The twins wrote of the motivation for writing the track over on Soundcloud when they released in 2016:

It was the first track we wrote after returning from Ukraine where we got stuck for half a year during the uprise. The track is not political at all, rather a call for freedom, but it was certainly influenced by everything that was happening in Ukraine and the fact that we couldn't come back to our new home - London.

It's an incredibly uplifting, anthemic piece so you can see why they'd be keen to contextualise it as it certainly has the potential to be a rallying cry for a number of causes. Not so much political as life influenced pop, but one that certainly packs a punch. 

Wednesday 20 July 2022

Lynks - Hey Joe (Relax) [Music Video]


Released earlier this year as part of the MEN trilogy, the enigmatic Lynks mashes up the doctrines of the wellness industry with this tale of introducing their latest guy to their friends, then coming to the conclusion as time progresses that said guy is a total douche. Because this is Lynks, they don't hold back, and the resulting address to the no longer wanted partner is refreshingly, eye wateringly honest in tone ("This is my house and I don't want you in it" being an oft repeated anchoring phrase). Tremendous. 

Tuesday 19 July 2022

Hatchie - Giving The World Away (Official Video)


The title track from Hatchie's second album (released earlier this year), 'Giving The World Away' shows Hatchie's sonic journey from jangly indie pop to shoegaze and dance infused late eighties/early 90s indie pop. Some of the Australian sunniness that infused her first album seems to have been lost along the way, which is a pity, but was perhaps necessary when it came to developing Hariette Pilbeam's skills as a songwriter. 'Giving The World Away' will sound like an anthem from a past era, but it's an anthemic piece that should endure in its own right. 

Monday 18 July 2022

Lucky Iris - [i'm not good at writing] love songs


The Leeds duo returned earlier this year with this slyly catchy slice of elegant, understated synth pop and it's a real ear worm. Sophisticated in sound, cautiously self depreciating in lyric, it has all the hallmarks of a classic. 

Sunday 17 July 2022

Raveena - Rush


Raveena's second album Asha's Awakening (her first for Warners) has proved to be something of a surprise, with the kind of musical innovation that we've come to expect from artists such as FKA Twigs and Kelly Lee Owens, but which is this time coming from the seemingly unassuming personage of "Desi Futurist" Raveena Aurora, a sikh girl born and raised in the US by parents who had fled the 1984 anti-Sikh pograms in Punjab. She grew up listening to R&B, soul, jazz and folk and has been releasing her own music since 2013. 

'Rush' is one of the most obviously pop songs on the album, and it could be dismissed at first listen as light and insubstantial, but it's that very lightness that has imbued all of her music that has become a kind of calling card for her. There is a sparseness there, which when coupled with the lightness of her vocal, can feel slight but which, when you listen, belies a level of musical inventiveness that almost creeps up on you. The album is attention grabbing without being showy, and it has a sound that feels at once very 2022 while also unique. 

Saturday 16 July 2022

Kills Birds - Cough Up Cherries (Official Video)


Being described by the NME as "Dave Grohl's favourite band" and by Kim Gordon as "Hot as fuck", you'd expect a certain amount of baggage to come with new grunge band Kills Bird. Not so though. Straddling ground previously occupied by Hole and the Distillers, the band (and front woman Nina Ljeti) have the kind of ease and confidence that we've also seen in recent years from Australia's Press Gang and New Zealand's Miss June. 'Cough Up Cherries' is an impressive early track, a calling card of sorts that promises much but which also delivers in and of itself. Watch this space. 

Friday 15 July 2022

Zuzu - Lie to Myself (Official Video)


Taken from last years album Queensway Tunnel, the video to 'Lie to Myself' pays further homage to the Liverpool songwriters fascination with tunnels (last years 'Timing' video was filmed in the Queensway tunnel that the album was named after). It makes for an unusual but affecting location for this excoriating tale of self recrimination and raging at an unnamed ex, with some pretty choice lines along the way, and an irrepressible energy that marks the album as a whole. We're not seeing her career take off yet, but it should come with time. 

Thursday 14 July 2022

Overcoats - Wait For Me Darling (Live at Sixpoint Brewery)


Taken from last years Used To Be Scared of The Dark EP, 'Wait For Me Darling' is here given the summery acoustic treatment.

It's been two years since the band released their second album, The Fight, and they've been slowing building their profile and reputation since then. It might be a long road of small tours, sonic experimentation and juggling music with work, but it will be worth it in the end.