Mercury nominations

Florence, Kasabian and Glasvegas are all on the shortlist

21 July 2009 - The Mercury Prize nominees have been announced for best British/Irish album of the last 12 months at a ceremony in London.

Twelve acts have been given the nod for this year's award, which will be decided by an independent panel of industry figures and music journalists on 8 September.

Florence And The Machine

Florence And The Machine's debut Lungs is among the favourites after they picked up the Brit Awards Critics' Choice earlier this year.

Led by singer Florence Welch, the band recorded an early performance in the 6 Music Hub back in January.

Florence And The Machine profile

Bat For Lashes

Bat For Lashes, aka Natasha Khan, was previously nominated for her debut Fur And Gold back in 2007.

Now the panel have given her a second nod for comeback album Two Suns.

Bat For Lashes profile

La Roux

Elsewhere, La Roux, who recently shot to Number One in the singles chart with Bulletproof, came fifth in the BBC Sound of 2009 poll back in January.

The synth pop duo's self titled debut was only recently held off the top spot in the UK album chart by Michael Jackson.

La Roux profile

"You don't want to start thinking about it because you will only jinx it." Ed MacFarlane, Friendly Fires

Kasabian

Leicester rockers Kasabian, have never been nominated for the Mercury Prize before despite riding high in the charts with their self titled debut and 2006 follow up Empire.

They recently scored their highest UK singles chart entry at Number Three with Fire. Could this be their Mercury year?

Kasabian profile

Friendly Fires

St Albans electro trio Friendly Fires, who are renowned for their spectacular live shows, are nominated for the first time this year.




Singer Ed MacFarlane isn't counting his chickens though. "You don't want to start thinking about it because you will only surely jinx it," he said.

"We've experienced rejection already when we were nominated for some award and a dancer beat us to it."

Friendly Fires profile

The Invisible

Tom Herbert from London newcomers The Invisible, once received a Mercury nod under his previous jazz guise Polar Bear.

Come September he will be hoping his new band's debut will scoop this year's coveted prize.

The Invisible profile

Speech Debelle

Theirs is one of seven debut albums that have been nominated as is Speech Therapy by south London rapper Speech Debelle, whose experiences of living in hostels have infused her lyrics.

It features contributions from Micachu, Tunng’s Mike Lindsay and Big Dada label-mate Roots Manuva.

Speech Debelle profile

Glasvegas

Glasgow gloom rockers Glasvegas shot into the mainstream back in the spring of 2008 after they picked up the Philip Hall Radar prize at the NME Awards.

Since then their tearjerking self-titled debut has scored them a respectable number two in the UK album chart.




Glavegas profile

The Horrors

The Horrors meanwhile shocked everybody when they swapped their goth roots of old for the krautrock of Neu! on their recent second album Primary Colours.

They will be hoping to surprise a few more people just like Elbow did with their Mercury Prize victory in 2008.

The Horrors profile

Sweet Billy Pilgrim

The panel often uncover a quirkily recorded entry.

This year it's Sweet Billy Pilgrim's album Twice Born Men which was recorded by three session musicians on a laptop in a garden shed and released by former Japan star David Sylvian's label.

Sweet Billy Pilgrim

Led Bib

The Mercury jazz offering for 2009 comes from London quintet Led Bib for third album Sensible Shoes.

Led Bib profile

Lisa Hannigan

Irish musician Lisa Hannigan - who hand-stitched the cover of her album Sea Sew - flies the flag for folk.

She has previously collaborated with fellow Irish songwriter Damien Rice.

Lisa Hannigan profile

Coverage of the Mercury Music Prize awards on 8 September will feature on both BBC Two and BBC 6 Music.

Damian Jones