2017 SAY Award longlist unveiled ahead of public vote

Jim and William Reid formed The Jesus and Mary Chain in East Kilbride in 1983. Their first album in 19 years, Damage and Joy, was released in March. Picture: Steve Gullick

They formed in an East Kilbride bedroom more than three decades ago, enjoyed a critically acclaimed career that took them around the world, before splitting in acrimonious circumstances on stage in Miami in 1998.

Now, The Jesus and Mary Chain are among the nominees for the most prestigious contemporary music prize in Scotland for Damage and Joy, their first album in 19 years.

The alternative rock band, fronted by brothers Jim and William Reid, are among 20 artists to make the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award longlist.

Among the other nominees revealed at an event at the ABC venue in Glasgow were indie veterans Teenage Fanclub, post-rock titans Mogwai and respected folk singer and harpist Rachel Newton.

Mogwai are among the bands on the 2017 SAY Award longlist. Picture: Brian Sweeney

Newer artists have also been given a chance to shine, with debut albums from Sacred Paws and TeenCanteen among those on the longlist.

Fans of electronic music will welcome with the inclusion of Konx-om-Pax, the recording name of Glasgow-based producer Tom Scholefield, whose second album Caramel was released last year.

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But it is the return of the famously unsmiling Reid brothers that will attract most attention. The Jesus and Mary Chain first made headlines in 1985 on the back of their abrasive-yet-melodic debut LP, Psychocandy, and continued to regularly tour and record until falling out 13 years later.

Although they reunited for shows in 2006 it has taken more than a decade for Damage and Joy to surface.

The public will now have a chance to vote online to decide one of the 10 albums that will make the final shortlist, with the remaining nine chosen by judges.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony at Paisley Town Hall on June 28 and collect a cheque for £10,000.

Now in its sixth year, the SAY Award was started by the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA) with support from Creative Scotland to promote the nation’s recording industry at home and abroad.

The competition is open to Scottish artists as well those who have chosen to make Scotland their home.

“This year’s SAY Award ranges from acts who burst onto the scene in the 1980s such as The Jesus And Mary Chain to TeenCanteen,” said Alan Morrison, head of music at Creative Scotland.

“And that’s one of the wonderful things about this prize – emerging artists such as Vukovi, Sacred Paws and Fatherson find themselves standing shoulder to shoulder with Scottish icons.”

Robert Kilpatrick, projects and operations manager, at SMIA, said the longlist was “an incredibly strong, diverse and important list of contemporary Scottish records”.

The 2017 SAY Award longlist:

Adam Holmes and The Embers - Brighter Still

C Duncan - The Midnight Sun

Ela Orleans - Circles of Upper and Lower Hell

Fatherson - Open Book

Frightened Rabbit - Painting of a Panic Attack

Honeyblood - Babes Never Die

The Jesus and Mary Chain - Damage and Joy

King Creosote - Astronaut Meets Appleman

Konx-om-Pax - Caramel

Meursault - I Will Kill Again

Modern Studies - Swell to Great

Mogwai - Atomic

Pictish Trail - Future Echoes

Rachel Newton - Here’s My Heart Come Take It

RM Hubbert - Telling The Trees

Sacred Paws - Strike A Match

Starless - Starless

Teenage Fanclub - Here

TeenCanteen - Say It All With A Kiss

Vukovi - Vukovi