<span class=artist>Anna Calvi</span> <span>Hunter</span>
Influences: Anna Calvi’s Hunter is a proudly feminist art-rock album that challenges the norms of gender conformity. “I’m hunting for something”, the London singer-songwriter says of her third album’s title and themes. “I want experiences, I want agency, I want sexual freedom, I want intimacy, I want to feel strong, I want to feel protected and I want to find something beautiful in all the mess.” Calvi has hailed Grace Jones’s distinctive powerful voice as an influence, and also said: “I was imagining what a female Iggy Pop would be.”
Scene: Inspired by Jimi Hendrix, Calvi started playing the guitar when she was eight, but didn’t begin singing until her mid-twenties. She worked as a guitar teacher and a toy shop sales assistant before being signed by Domino Records in 2009. Brian Eno was an early champion, calling Calvi “the biggest thing since Patti Smith” and singing and playing on her debut album. She’s also collaborated with David Byrne, Marianne Faithfull and PJ Harvey producer Rob Ellis. Calvi’s guitar-driven art-rock sound is often described as dark and cinematic, so it’s not too surprising that she’s recently scored series five of Peaky Blinders.
<span class=artist>Black Midi</span> <span>Schlagenheim</span>
Influences: Black Midi’s name comes from an internet music genre the band learned of via YouTube, a video frontman Geordie Greep has said they “haven’t spent more than five minutes watching”. The four-piece experimental rock band initially bonded over a shared love of Talking Heads, Deerhoof and Danny Brown, but that doesn’t mean these acts are “influences” in the traditional sense. According to Greep, “there’s stuff we all like, but it’s not like we all like stuff that we based the band on sort of thing. We’ve tried to keep the band quite distinct from what we like.”
Scene: Black Midi formed at the Brit School, the Croydon performing arts institution known for cultivating Adele, Amy Winehouse and Jessie J. They then honed their live skills at Brixton venue the Windmill, a bastion of the south London indie scene. Though they’re hardly typical Brit School alumni, the group acknowledge they owe a debt to their time there. “You do shows every term and stuff,” Greep has said. “So once you get out you’ve got a really good idea of how sound works. It meant we left school, could play at the Windmill and knew how to soundcheck straight away.”
<span class=artist>Cate Le Bon</span> <span>Reward</span>
Influences: Growing up in Wales in the 90s, Cate Le Bon’s father would make her mixtapes introducing her to seminal artists such as Neil Young and the Velvet Underground. She was also drawn to California rockers Pavement and two leading Welsh bands of the era, Super Furry Animals and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci. Her shortlisted album Reward grew from a year of “self-imposed isolation” in Cumbria where she spent her time woodworking by day and later, “playing the piano and singing into the night”.
Scene: Born in Carmarthenshire, Le Bon’s roots lie in the Welsh indie scene. She first came to prominence opening for Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys on his 2007 solo tour, then singing on I Lust U, a standout track from Rhys’s electro-pop side project Neon Neon. She’s since released five albums, collaborated with John Cale and the Manic Street Preachers, and co-produced an album by American indie rockers Deerhunter. She’s revered by peers including St. Vincent and Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, who earlier this year described Le Bon as “pretty much my favourite artist”, going on to say: “I’m mesmerised by her output over the last 10 years.”
<span class=artist>Dave</span> <span>Psychodrama</span>
Influences: Streatham-raised rapper Dave has said the concept of his debut album, Psychodrama, comes “from the type of therapy [his brother] Chris has been having in prison”. The album has a three-act structure through which he explores his struggles with mental health, his father’s absence growing up and his identity as a young working class black man. Dave has said he has “mad love” for fellow British hip-hop star Stormzy, and also cited Lana Del Rey, Pink Floyd and Hans Zimmer as influences.
Scene: Dave is a leading light of the blossoming British hip-hop scene. Fellow London rappers Stormzy and Wiley supported him early on; then Dave’s profile grew again when US superstar Drake jumped on a remix of his 2017 track Wanna Know. More recently, the 21-year-old has collaborated with several other London rappers including Headie One, J Hus and Fredo, who featured on Dave’s chart-topping single Funky Friday. This year, Dave has underlined his rising star status with a guest spot on Ed Sheeran’s No.6 Collaborations Project.
<span class=artist>Foals</span> <span>Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1</span>
Influences: Oxford band Foals have cited minimalist composer Steve Reich, indie icons Pixies and innovative dance producer Arthur Baker as influences. Frontman Yannis Philippakis has also said that a “general anxiety” caused by Trump, Brexit and climate change fed into their shortlisted album, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 1. “I was listening to the tracks in the pub and I’d I look up and see a pub garden full of people and realise: ‘We’re all in this shitstorm together.’ I felt the songs should deal with that,” he said recently.
Scene: Foals formed in Oxford’s indie scene in 2005. Two band members, frontman Yannis Philippakis and drummer Jack Bevan, were previously part of another band, math-rockers The Edmund Fitzgerald, who disbanded when things apparently became “too serious”. Since releasing their debut album Antidotes in 2008, Foals have been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize on three occasions and become seasoned festival headliners. A follow-up to their shortlisted album, the logically-titled Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost – Part 2, is due in October.
<span class=artist>Fontaines DC</span> <span>Dogrel</span>
Influences: Dublin post-punks Fontaines DC are influenced by the Strokes, the Libertines and the Velvet Underground; they’ve called the latter “the base point of modern music”. Frontman Grian Chatten has also cited the Pogues’ 1984 debut album Red Roses for Me as a major touchstone for their own shortlisted debut, Dogrel, saying: “It sounds so raucous but at the same time so intelligent.” But the band’s most formative influence could be their hometown. “I think of Dublin and our music as one and the same, because it was written by people who were intensely absorbed by the city,” Chatten has said.
Scene: Inspired by fellow Dubliners Girl Band, whom they credit with “modernising” Irish music, Fontaines DC are part of a new wave of Irish guitar bands making music with a strong social conscience. Discussing the scene earlier this year, Fontaines bassist Conor Deegan III said: “There’s so many things going on in Ireland, socially and politically, that for so long were not being talked about. It feels like there’s a coherent voice for our generation again.” Having toured with Shame and Idles, Fontaines DC also have close connections with the UK guitar music scene.
<span class=artist>Idles</span> <span>Joy as an Act of Resistance</span>
Influences: While often described as a post-punk band, Idles frontman Joe Talbot has said they’re really “a product of different things we love”. The Bristol outfit’s shortlisted second album, Joy as an Act of Resistance, is influenced by the Sex Pistols, Interpol and Welsh post-hardcore group Mclusky, plus garage music, grime and jungle. It’s all funnelled into a righteous and rousing call-to-arms which takes on toxic masculinity, class conflict, immigration and Brexit. The end result isn’t anger, said Talbot, but music that’s “all about opening up and being vulnerable”.
Scene: Formed in Bristol in 2009, five-piece Idles make ferocious socially-conscious guitar music that’s often called punk or post-punk. However, the band themselves aren’t too keen on these tags. Frontman Joe Talbot said in a 2017 interview: “We’re not a post-punk band. I guess we have that motorik, engine-like drive in the rhythm section that some post-punk bands have, but we have plenty of songs that aren’t like that at all. Well Done [from debut album Brutalism] felt to me like trying to write a grime song.”
<span class=artist>Little Simz</span> <span>Grey Area</span>
Influences: Little Simz said her shortlisted album Grey Area was inspired by “just coming into myself a lot more and being a young woman in my mid-20s and still learning about myself”. The north London artist, whose real name is Simbi Ajikawo, has said that listening to grime as a teenager influenced her writing style, but Grey Area also draws from other sources. Produced by her childhood friend Inflo, it incorporates jazz, funk, soul, rock and trip-hop, and includes collaborations with reggae artist Chronixx, folk-rock singer Michael Kiwanuka and electro-R&B band Little Dragon.
Scene: Little Simz said earlier this year that “people have struggled with finding where to place me”, adding: “And I think that’s also because I don’t even know where I fit.” This doesn’t mean the north London rapper lacks influential and high-profile fans. Two years ago, Kendrick Lamar said she “might be the illest doing it”, and she’s been tapped for collaborations by Gorillaz, Khalid and alt-j. Simz has even toured with Lauryn Hill, whose seminal album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was part of her “day-to-day life” when she was growing up.
<span class=artist>Nao</span> <span>Saturn</span>
Influences: Neo Jessica Joshua, better known as Nao, grew up in Hackney listening to R&B, hip-hop and UK garage, as well as Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin and Prince. Conceptually, her shortlisted second album is inspired by astrology’s Saturn return. “It’s this idea that Saturn takes 29 years to orbit from when you’re born and it is the planet of blessings and growth. So by the time you’re around 29, between 27 and 32, something big happens in your life,” 31-year-old Nao says. “You start to rethink everything – old stuff that your parents taught you or ideas that you believed in. It’s like a complete shedding of skin and it can be painful.”
Scene: Nao’s unique musical journey means she doesn’t slot neatly into any particular scene. After studying vocal jazz at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, she joined all-female beatboxing troupe The Boxettes, who were popular on YouTube. She also put in stints as a backing singer for Kwabs and Jarvis Cocker. When she released her debut album For All We Know in 2016, she often described her sound as “wonky funk”, and she’s since collaborated with Nile Rodgers & Chic and Disclosure.
<span class=artist>SEED Ensemble</span> <span>Driftglass</span>
Influences: Led by alto saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi, SEED Ensemble is a 10-piece band “combining jazz with inner-city London, West African and Caribbean-influenced groove”. Kinoshi says she’s personally influenced by composers such as Maria Schneider, Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus, and named Driftglass after a collection of short stories by African-American author Samuel R Delany. “This record specifically focuses on interpreting … what driftglass is as an analogy for how improvised music changes and evolves over time depending on its environment,” she says. “Sci-fi, specifically space travel and Afrofuturist references to water and its connection to black history, were also important in its creation.”
Scene: Formed by alto saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi in 2016, SEED Ensemble brings together some of London’s most exciting young jazz musicians, including tuba player Theon Cross (Sons of Kemet), trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey (Kokoroko), guitarist Shirley Tetteh (Maisha) and in-demand pianist Sarah Tandy. “I feel that the next step for the UK jazz scene is to become more connected as individual artists,” Kinoshi says. “I think there’s currently a spotlight on what’s happening in London specifically, but there are [also] so many great artists outside of the capital creating great art.”
<span class=artist>Slowthai</span> <span>Nothing Great About Britain</span>
Influences: Northampton rapper Tyron Frampton, or Slowthai, has varied musical influences ranging from the Beatles to Basement Jaxx, and So Solid Crew to Elliot Smith. He namechecks the Prodigy on Nothing Great About Britain, the title track from his shortlisted debut album, saying: “I am a prodigy – they made me.” He’s also said he related to Radiohead’s Creep during his formative years. His album is an impassioned mix of hip-hop, grime, electronica and punk, so it’s fitting that it features collaborations with both grime icon Skepta and noisenik guitar duo Slaves.
Scene: Tyron Frampton, the rapper better known as Slowthai, was born and raised in Northampton. “It’s always been a band town,” he said earlier this year. “There’s always been good music but never a strong scene to keep it going.” His own music mixes hip-hop grit with a scabrous punk energy, but he’s keen not to be pigeonholed, saying: “I want to play guitar, piano, drums, write songs for other people. I can do punk, I can do indie, but as long as it has my voice, it’ll always be my sound.”
<span class=artist>The 1975</span> <span>A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships</span>
Influences: Manchester’s the 1975 are four guys who play instruments, but they’re not a rock band in the traditional sense. A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships is a sprawling, genre-hopping pop album influenced by artists as varied as Prince, Eric Clapton, D’Angelo, John Coltrane and Glasgow sophisti-pop outfit the Blue Nile. The song Surrounded by Heads and Bodies borrows its title from David Foster Wallace’s sprawling 1996 novel Infinite Jest, while I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes) is, according to singer Matt Healy, “a gritty, English [version of Aerosmith’s] I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”. In an era of multi-genre Spotify playlists, it somehow makes perfect sense.
Scene: The four members of the 1975 met at Wilmslow High School and started making music at 15. At one point, they operated as a punk covers band, but they soon developed their own genre-splicing songwriting style inspired by everyone from Michael Jackson to My Bloody Valentine. Since signing to indie label Dirty Hit and breaking through with 2013’s self-titled debut, band members Matt Healy and George Daniel have co-written tracks for fellow Dirty Hit artists Pale Waves, The Japanese House and No Rome.
Watch the 2019 Hyundai Mercury Prize live on Thursday 19th September, BBC Four - 9pm. Discover more: mercuryprize.hyundai.co.uk
