DERRY singer-songwriter SOAK is in the running to win the prestigious Mercury Prize for album of the year on Friday night.
The 19-year-old – real name Bridie Monds-Watson – picked up the Northern Ireland Music Prize for best album at a ceremony in the Mandela Hall in Belfast last weekend and will be hoping for another win this evening.
Yet at least two bookmakers have SOAK as an outside bet to win for her album Before We Forgot How To Dream, with seven of her fellow 11 nominees ahead of her and Jamie xx the frontrunner.
“SOAK is the new kid on the block and she may well be overpriced at 14/1 to win the coveted prize,” said Liam Glynn from bookies BoyleSports.
The singer – who has been championed by Gary Lightbody – started writing songs aged 13 and was surprised at being nominated for the Mercury, saying, “It’s crazy. I did not see this coming”.
Monds-Watson isn’t the only Irish act on the shortlist, with Wicklow-born Róisin Murphy and Limerick native Richard James (aka Aphex Twin) nominated for their records Hairless Toys and Syro.
No Irish act has ever won the Mercury Prize depsite being nominated many times.
U2 – who played the second of their two SSE Arena gigs in Belfast on Thursday night – were nominated for the very first Mercury Prize in 1992 for their album Achtung Baby.
Last year’s winners were Scottish hip-hop act Young Fathers.
The other contenders for the 2015 prize – which will be screened on BBC Four from 9.30pm tonight – are Benjamin Clementine, C Duncan, Eska, Florence + The Machine, Gaz Coombes, Ghostpoet, Slaves and Wolf Alice.
:: See Gaz Coombes interview and Mercury Prize preview in Friday’s Scene section.
