Mercury Music Prize: Glasgow musician C Duncan among nominees for prestigious

Róisín Murphy’s first album in eight years, Hairless Toys builds on the crisp, polished disco sound established in her previous two solo albums.

The remaining artists whose work has made the cut are: Slaves; Jamie xx; Benjamin Clementine; Ghostpoet; Eska; Duncan and Wolf Alice. Growing up in a strict religious household, Clementine left London for Paris when he was 20, where he slept rough and busked out of economic necessity.

The rest of the 2015 Mercury Prize shortlist is being announced by Lauren Laverne over on 6music all morning.

With The xx having won the Mercury Prize for their debut album in 2010, Jamie xx is no stranger to the prize.

Wolf Alice frontwoman Ellie Rowsell said: “We’re absolutely flabbergasted… We’re like four excitable kids all the time”. “It was extremely stressful to win, the tension in the room – and I got to hide behind the others when they did the speech”.

Electronic diva and queen of all things cool, Roisín Murphy, has been shortlisted for her critically received album Hairless Toys while teenage Derry singer SOAK also received a nod for her debut album Before We Forgot How to Dream. He recorded his psych-rock debut album Architect in his bedroom in Glasgow and is celebrating his nomination by decorating it. The Line of Best Fit gave Architect a glowing review, writing: “C Duncan is an artist of creative design, and what he’s produced is positively palatial”. “It’s just insane – I did not see that coming!”

Oxford-born singer-songwriter Gaz Coombes is nominated for his second solo album of alt-rock, which entered at Number 18 on the Official Chart in February. “I’m sure I’ll go out later on”.

He said: “It’s insane. That’s more than a dream that every musician wants to accomplish with their album, because it’s exclusively about the music”.

This year’s victor will be announced on 20th November, and according to The Independent, Mercury Prize organisers are hoping Aphex Twin (real name Richard James) will perform at the awards ceremony.

The prize is judged by a panel of 12 critics, DJs, musicians and other industry figures who often use the shortlist to champion left-field choices as well as more obvious contenders. “What they have in common is the ambition and the craft, the ideas and the imagination to make great music”.