Shortlist of 10 for Scotland’s album of the year

The shortlist for the Scottish Album of the Year has been revealed.

Scotland’s national music prize, The Scottish Album of The Year (SAY) Award, has 10 enthralling albums in the running for 2018.

The shortlist represents an incredibly strong, diverse and important selection of albums created by artists living and working in Scotland.

The list is (band, then album): BABE, Kiss & Tell; Best Girl Athlete, Best Girl Athlete; Franz Ferdinand, Always Ascending; Golden Teacher, No Luscious Life; Karine Polwart with Pippa Murphy, A Pocket of Wind Resistance; Kobi Onyame, Gold; Mogwai, Every Country’s Sun; Out Lines, Conflats; Siobhan Wilson, There Are No Saints; Young Fathers, Cocoa Sugar.

The SAY Award celebrates and champions the best of Scottish music whilst recognising creativity and artistic endeavor encompassing a broad spectrum of musical genres.

The Shortlist was chosen by a highly-respected panel of judges including Strawberry Switchblade’s Rose McDowall, BAFTA award-winning film maker Lynne Ramsay and curator of National Museum Scotland’s Rip It Up: The Story of Scottish Pop, Stephen Allen.

Each Shortlisted album has automatically won a guaranteed £1000 prize, with the winning album (decided on the night of the Ceremony) being awarded £20,000.

The 72-hour voting window, which closed at midnight on Wednesday, saw a record number of public votes being cast by engaged music fans, all hoping to secure their favourite Longlisted album a place on the 2018 SAY Award Shortlist. The winner of the Public Vote was Franz Ferdinand for Always Ascending.

Paul Thomson of Franz Ferdinand said: ‘This year has been a particularly good one for music coming out of Scotland and the SAY Award longlist and shortlist reflects that. We’re delighted to be up there with the hard hitters.’

Louisa Mahon, head of marketing, communications and events at Renfrewshire Council, said: ‘This year’s SAY Award shortlist reflects the breadth and diversity of Scotland’s music scene and we are delighted to welcome all of the shortlisted acts to Paisley Town Hall for the Award next month.

‘This is one of the biggest nights in Scotland’s musical calendar and our third consecutive year as hosts.

‘Music is in Paisley’s DNA and it is fair to say we love the SAY Award. A massive congratulations to all of the acts on the shortlist and we look forward to celebrating together in Paisley on September 6.’

You can listen to and learn more about each album on The SAY Award Shortlist by visiting sayaward.com.

The final award ceremony takes place in the elegant surroundings of Paisley Town Hall, with support from Renfrewshire Council.

All 10 shortlisted artists will receive an exclusively designed, commemorative award, created by the winner of The SAY 2018 Design Commission.

Launched in 2012, The SAY Award celebrates, promotes and rewards the most outstanding Scottish albums released each year.