Scottish Album of the Year shortlist announced

The shortlist for the second annual Scottish Album of the Year Award was announced at Glasgow's CCA last night, with a few surprises in the final ten. Whittled down from a longlist of 20, the short version was selected by a panel of ten industry figures as well as a public ballot to decide one of the finalists, which took place on Monday 27 May for 24 hours. With perceived favourites Calvin Harris and Emeli Sandé knocked out of the running, it was The Twilight Sad who clinched the public vote.

The band’s frontman James Graham commented: “We always try to push our music forward. From the outside looking in that can be seen to be a risk and there's a chance that people that like your band might not move forward with you, but not to us. If we aren't pushing ourselves, we aren't doing our job right.”    

The full SAY Award shortlist in alphabetical order:

• Admiral Fallow: Tree Bursts In Snow [review]
• Django Django: Django Django [review]
• Human Don't Be Angry: Human Don't Be Angry [review]
• Karine Polwart: Traces  [website] 
• Lau: Race The Loser  [website] 
• Meursault: Something For The Weakened  [review] 
• Paul Buchanan: Mid Air  [website] 
• RM Hubbert: Thirteen Lost & Found  [review] 
• Stanley Odd: Reject  [review] 
• The Twilight Sad: No One Can Ever Know [review]

The judging panel was comprised of Douglas Anderson (author/broadcaster/writer), Christopher Brookmyre (author), Stewart Cruickshank (radio producer), Tom Doyle (author/journalist), Douglas Gordon (visual artist), Kate Molleson (journalist), Joe Muggs (journalist/A&R), Jude Rogers (journalist), Tjinder Singh (Cornershop; Ample Play Records), Rebecca Vasmant (DJ/producer) and Sue Wilson (journalist).

The panel's chair, Glasgow Academic, John Williamson, remarked: “Although there was a strong longlist including some hugely commercially successful albums, the ten chosen for the short list are those that best reflect the range of music made by Scottish artists in 2012. It includes debut albums and ones by people who have been making music for thirty years; solo albums and collaborative projects; genres from folk music to hip-hop. It is perhaps a measure of the collective quality that it is hard to see an obvious winner from the ten.”

A ceremony to announce the winner, who will also claim a £20,000 award, will take place at the Barrowlands 20 June. Each of the the nine runners up will receive £1000 and a specially commissioned original artwork by a Glasgow School of Art graduate.

• Read our initial analysis of the SAY Award and its nominees here.