emusu.com

An important year for musical creativity and diversity is highlighted by the 12 Albums of the Year shortlisted for the 2007 Nationwide Mercury Prize, announced on Tuesday 17 July.

“This year’s Nationwide Mercury Prize shortlist celebrates a remarkable range of artists who use their albums to tell stories, shape moods, explore emotions and lift the spirits,” says Simon Frith, Chair of Judges. “The list marks the emergence of a wealth of eclectic talent making music with great energy, excitement and personality.”

This year’s shortlist demonstrates the continuing musical vitality of regions throughout the British Isles . The View, with Hats Off to the Buskers, hail from Dundee while Dublin-based Fionn Regan is shortlisted for The End of History. Maps’ James Chapman recorded his album, We Can Create, in his Northamptonshire bedroom and The Young Knives, whose Voices of Animals and Men is shortlisted, now live in Oxford after forming in Ashby de la Zouche. Sheffield ’s Arctic Monkeys won the Prize in 2006 and continue to make musical history by being the first artists to be shortlisted in two consecutive years – this year for their number one album Favourite Worst Nightmare.

Among the debut albums on the list are New Young Pony Club’s energetic Fantastic Playroom, the haunting self-titled album from Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford, and Jamie T’s Panic Prevention, which provides a witty snapshot of growing up in contemporary Britain . Other debut releases come from Klaxons with their exhilarating Myths of the Near Future and the beautiful and intriguing album by Bat For Lashes, Fur and Gold.

The shortlist is completed by Back to Black, Amy Winehouse’s UK number one album and Maths + English by a previous winner of the Prize, Dizzee Rascal.

The 2007 Albums of the Year are:

Bat for Lashes Fur and Gold
Maps We Can Create

Fionn Regan The End of History
The View Hats Off to the Buskers