David Bowie, Foals lead 2013 Mercury Prize shortlist


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The shortlist for this year’s Mercury Prize has just been announced in London this evening (September 11th), with bookies favourites Foals and David Bowie leading the way.

Foals continued an evolution in sound on their critically-lauded third album ‘Holy Fire‘, and had been tipped for this year’s prize long before the final shortlist was made public. The LP’s confirmed place on the rundown now makes them strong favourites. ‘The Next Day‘, at the heart of David Bowie’s celebrated comeback this year, is also likely to occupy the judges’ thoughts, as is Laura Marling, whose fourth LP ‘Once I Was An Eagle‘ is now her third Mercury nominated record.

Arctic Monkeys have also been swiftly recognised just a few days after their nominated album ‘AM‘ received its official release, while Jake Bugg‘s breakthrough success this year has been marked as his self-titled debut gets a nod.

Last year, Alt-J came out on top to the surprise of no-one with their debut ‘An Awesome Wave‘, while a year earlier PJ Harvey became the first act to with the prize on two separate occasions as ‘Let England Shake‘ followed the 2001 triumph of ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea‘.

The 2013 winner is to be announced at the Roundhouse on October 30th.

2013 Mercury Prize shortlisted albums:

Arctic Monkeys – ‘AM’
David Bowie – ‘The Next Day’
Disclosure – ‘Settle’
Foals – ‘Holy Fire’
Jon Hopkins – ‘Immunity’
Jake Bugg – ‘Jake Bugg’
James Blake – ‘Overgrown’
Laura Marling – ‘Once I Was An Eagle’
Laura Mvula – ‘Sing To The Moon’
Rudimental – Home’
Savages – ‘Silence Yourself’
Villagers – ‘{Awayland}’


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