SAY Award Longlist to be revealed at special Glasgow gig

The Scottish Album of the Year Award returns for its seventh edition this year, and as was the case last year, music fans will be first to discover which artists will be up for the £20,000 prize. At a special gig on 1 August at Glasgow’s King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, dubbed ‘Live at the Longlist’, the longlist for the coveted SAY Award will be announced.

“Last year we introduced ‘Live at the Longlist’ to allow artists, industry and music fans to all come together to celebrate the incredible strength and diversity of our country's recorded output,” says Robert Kilpatrick, General Manager at the Scottish Music Industry Association, who produce The SAY Award. “Much more than just a list of 20 great albums, the longlist is the product of an extraordinary nationwide consultation, where 100 impartial Nominators working across the music industry democratically select the 20 most outstanding Scottish records of the last year. I think this process is what makes being longlisted really special and valued, and what makes people really want to listen to these great records."

The night will feature live performances from previous SAY nominees, including a special collaborative set from Stina Tweeddale of Honeyblood and Carla J Easton of TeenCanteen, as well as a live performance from Emma Pollock, whose album In Search of Harperfield was shortlisted for The SAY Award in 2016.

The 20 Scottish albums that have made the 2018 SAY Award longlist will be revealed by journalist and broadcaster Nicola Meighan, and the night will come to a close with a DJ set from Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite.

Profits from the night will go towards SAY’s charity partner Help Musicians’ Scotland, who provide essential work supporting the physical and mental wellbeing of musicians.

Throughout August, the longlist will be further whittled down to a shortlist of ten albums, one of which will be chosen by the public during a 72-hour online vote and nine by judges. The shortlist will then be announced on Thursday 23 August, with the Award Ceremony taking place on Thursday 6 September in the surroundings of Paisley's elegant Town Hall with support from Renfrewshire Council.

Previous winners of The SAY Award include Sacred Paws (for Strike a Match in 2017), Young Fathers (for Tape Two in 2014), Kathryn Joseph (for Bones You Have Thrown Me, And Blood I've Spilled in 2015) and Anna Meredith (for Varmints in 2016).

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Tickets for Live at the Longlist go on sale at 10am on Mon 18 Jun and are available at sayaward.com