rEDOLENT win the 2024 SAY Award

Edinburgh outfit rEDOLENT have won this year's Scottish Album of the Year Award, picking up the £20,000 prize for their debut album, dinny greet

Feature by Tallah Brash | 24 Oct 2024
  • rEDOLENT win the 2024 SAY Award

In a ceremony at Stirling's Albert Halls, Edinburgh outfit rEDOLENT have been announced as winners of the 2024 Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award for their debut album, dinny greet. Released in May of this year on the Post Electric label run by Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones, dinny greet has beaten some pretty big hitters like Mercury Prize nominees Barry Can’t Swim and corto.alto, as well as household names like Arab Strap.

Led by brothers Danny and Robin Herbert with Andrew Turnbull on drums, Robbie White on bass and Alice Hancock on live samplers and backing vocals, rEDOLENT are by no means new to the music scene. We’ve had eyes on them for a while, and they even headlined the Sunday night of our stage at Kelburn Garden Party earlier this year. Having worked tirelessly on their debut, spending most days in the studio mastering the exact sound they wanted, winning this award is proof that if you work hard and stay true to what you want to do, good things will come.

dinny greet is a record full of hushed and emotive vocals, rippling electronics and shuffling drums, and is a refreshing winner of the award. “It’s a cheer up album about not letting the bad get the best of you, by trying to turn it into something positive. And making the most of the good times when they’re around,” singer Robin Herbert says of the record. “It’s built up of snapshots from my life that I felt like people could relate to: being stuck in a hellish job, debilitating mental health stuff, addiction. And some nice stuff too: travelling together, teenage misadventure, a summer of skating with people I hadn’t seen in a while. It’s about trying to enjoy the ride. It’s about keeping going, pursuing creativity at all costs.”

After a long day of deliberations chaired by multi-hyphenate Arusa Qureshi, the 11-strong judging panel that included journalist Dave Pollock, author Briana Pegado and actress and comedian Karen Dunbar took on the mammoth challenge of whittling down the ten albums on the shortlist to just one, agreeing that rEDOLENT’s sparkling debut dinny greet should take home the £20,000 cash prize.

Martyn Bennett's GRIT wins Modern Scottish Classic Award

Since launching in 2021, the Modern Scottish Classic Award has been awarded to Frightened Rabbit, Cocteau Twins and Paolo Nutini, with Martyn Bennett’s Grit the latest to be honoured. Selected by 2024’s longlist of 20 artists, Bennett has long been celebrated for his groundbreaking blend of traditional Celtic and modern music, leading the charge of what we now know as Celtic fusion.

Bennett passed away in 2005 at the age of 33 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, so his wife Kirsten and close friend BJ Stewart collected the award tonight on his behalf, while another close friend of Bennett’s – Grit Orchestra founder Greg Lawson – paid tribute by curating a special live performance. Playing violin alongside Croft No. Five and singer Fiona Hunter, the collective masterfully performed songs from the record. Tonight's ceremony also featured performances from past SAY Award nominees Bemz and Rebecca Vasmant alongside 2023’s Sound of Young Scotland winners No Windows.

Dillon Barrie wins the 2024 Sound of Young Scotland Award

The Sound of Young Scotland award was also given out for the fourth time tonight, and following in the footsteps of former winners LVRA, Berta Kennedy and the aforementioned No Windows, this year’s prize went to Dillon Barrie, ahead of fellow nominees Alice Faye, Goliath, Pippa Blundell and Spyres.

Chosen by a panel of 11 former SAY Award nominees, Barrie, originally from Pitlochry, moved to Glasgow in 2021 to pursue a career in music, enrolling in a jazz course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. The award will see Barrie receive a funding package worth up to £10,000 to help him create his debut album.


The SAY Award took place at Albert Halls, Stirling, 24 Oct

sayaward.com