Young Fathers‘ album ‘Dead‘ has won the 2014 Mercury Prize at a ceremony in London tonight (October 29th).
Kate Tempest and FKA Twigs had been the bookies’ favourites going into the event, after Royal Blood and Damon Albarn had been considered the early front-runners when the shortlist was revealed last month. But in light of some predictable winners during the past few years, judges opted for the Edinburgh-based hip hop act who in contrast had been considered one of the distinct outsiders.
In addition, the trio’s victory ends a run of alternative, experimental indie artists who have dominated recently, with The xx‘s debut winning in 2010, Alt-J‘s ‘An Awesome Wave‘ in 2012 and James Blake‘s ‘Overgrown‘ last year. Bucking that brief trend in 2011 was PJ Harvey, who became the first to pick up the award on two separate occasions after ‘Let England Shake‘ followed up the success of ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea‘ in 2001.
