Favourites miss out on album of the year

Enigmatic singer-songwriter Kathryn Joseph beat the favourites to win the Scottish Album of the Year Award for 2015 last night.

The singer, who has been compared to Joanna Newsom and Antony Hegarty, won for her album Bones You Have Thrown Me and Blood I’ve Spilled.

As well as the title of Scottish Album of the Year, she also won £20,000.

A total of 20 albums made up the final longlist for the competition, which is now in its fourth year.

This was then whittled down to a shortlist of 10 by judges picking their nine favourite albums and a public online vote determining the final album.

Each of the 10 artists on the shortlist was presented with a handmade quilt to mark their achievement.

Finally the judging panel, headed by John Williamson, selected the winning album, which was announced on stage at the O2 Academy in Glasgow by hosts Vic Galloway and Janice Forsyth.

Accepting the award, Kathryn Joseph thanked her producer Marcus Mackey and said: “Everyone else nominated should be up here. I honestly can’t believe it.”

Experimental Edinburgh hip-hop band Young Fathers were favourites to win the award for their album Dead, which had already won the Mercury Music Prize in October.

The group were also previous winners of the Scottish Album of the Year award, picking up the title for their earlier album Two Tapes.

Other big names to miss out on this year’s prize were Paolo Nutini, who was shortlisted for his album Caustic Love, and Belle and Sebastian, who were nominated for their album Girls in Peacetime Want to Dance.

Other artists nominated for this year’s award included East Neuk-based songwriter King Creosote and Idlewild, whose singer Roddy Woomble hails from Carnoustie.

Glasgow-based dance techno duo Slam used their nomination to criticise the loss of Glasgow’s Arches venue, which they said would be a “cultural loss” for the city.

The arts venue and nightclub went into administration last week. It had been ordered to curtail its opening hours by Glasgow City Council.