Shhe, Bossy Love and Cloth are among the acts to make the shortlist for this year’s Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award.

A remarkable eight of the 10 acts remaining in contention for the £10,000 prize having released their debut long player in the past 12 months.

Only Erland Cooper and Blanck Mass have previously put out full-length releases, while Declan Welsh & The Decadent West, The Ninth Wave, Nova, and Comfort were the other acts selected by the panel of judges for the list of albums from which the winner will be selected on Thursday 29th October.

The final space on the list was taken by Callum Easter, who won the public vote.

Bigger names such as Honeyblood, Karine Polwart and Lewis Capaldi as well as previous winners Sacred Paws and Anna Meredith failed to make the cut, as the judges narrowed down the 20 strong Longlist (itself drawn from 362 eligible albums) to the final 10.

The SAY Award Shortlist:
Blanck Mass – Animated Violence Mild
Bossy Love – Me + U
Callum Easter – Here Or Nowhere
Cloth – Cloth
Comfort – Not Passing
Declan Welsh & The Decadent West – Cheaply Bought, Expensively Sold
Erland Cooper – Sule Skerry
The Ninth Wave – Infancy
Nova – Re-Up
Shhe – Shhe

This year’s Shortlist also includes a record-breaking EIGHT debut albums, the most to ever feature in a SAY Award Shortlist.

The shortlist was revealed today via the Glasgow Science Centre’s ‘Big Screen’, which teased the list in the hours before the unveiling of the official Shortlist at 7pm.

Callum Easter said: “It means a lot to win the public vote. That’s the top prize for me.”

General Manager of the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA), Robert Kilpatrick said: “This year’s Shortlist is an emotive list of records which shows strength, ambition and confidence in the last year of Scotland’s recorded output.

“It presents a strong sense of Scotland’s diverse cultural identity, particularly from a wave of new artists, with an incredible eight debut albums making up the Shortlist of ten; a first in the history of the award.”

A SMIA statement added: “Music adds key economic, social and cultural benefits to our society and to each of our lives. It plays a fundamental role in driving tourism through our events and festivals, having generated £494 million for Scotland’s economy in 2018. But most importantly, our musical output helps us connect with both ourselves and each other. It provides us with emotional and mental well-being, and it often reflects the stories of our lives and the stories of our communities.”

More at www.sayaward.com.