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The countdown is very nearly over. On the evening of the 19 June, the winner of the first ever Scottish Album of the Year Award will be announced in a highly anticipated ceremony at Glasgow’s celebrated Film City. In the run up to this event, a long list of 20 albums was selected by judges from throughout the creative industries, from which a specially selected panel of music minds picked nine to feature on the award’s shortlist, with the tenth album being chosen via public vote.

Now, ten Scottish acts are in with the chance of winning the main prize of £10,000, with each of the runners up receiving £1,000 in what’s proving to be a very interesting competition indeed. Have a closer look at the nominees below to see who you think will be in with a chance of winning the inaugural Scottish Album of the Year Award.

Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat – Everything’s Getting Older

…Their collective experience radiates from every note of every song on this album. Together, the pair achieve a brilliantly exotic yet bleak record with quirky avant-garde asides, moments of profound sadness, some drunken silliness, Glaswegian pathetic fallacy, remote ugliness and snippets of bliss all tied up in narrative packages that treat each subject with a humble reverence and restraint.
- Stephen Smith

Conquering Animal Sound – Kammerspiel

Rarely does anything seem too clear on this album and the manipulation of sounds is magical at points, with reverb drenched vocals enveloping themselves until they become slow crystalline drones, the draped guitar lines stretching out like vast orchestral canvasses. Conquering Animal Sound specialise in layering simple sounds that continually become more inextricably linked, and much more complex to decipher.
- Chris Tapley

Happy Particles – Under Sleeping Waves

Underneath velvet instrumentation and blissful falsetto cooing, Happy Particles create achingly tender soundscapes that aptly embody the gorgeous title Under Sleeping Waves. Comprising ten tracks, beset on all sides with the pattering of dewdrop percussion and humming of masterfully composed strings, the album is breathtakingly elegant and as overpoweringly surrounding as the crashing waves of the deepest, bluest ocean.
- Merlin Jobst

King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine

Diamond Mine isn’t the pair’s first collaboration. The familiarity, though, has bred brilliance. Hopkins has selected his six favourite tracks and set about reworking them to accentuate Anderson’s astonishing vocals. His role here is perhaps more subtle than what he’s been used to recently, but no less important. This album is a (quietly) roaring success.
- Finbarr Bermingham

Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

The most enjoyable moments are when the band embrace their inner kraut. ‘Mexican Grand Prix’ has a resolutely motorik beat, breathy vocodered vocals and that lovely balance between strictness of rhythm and flight-of-fancy that makes this music transcendent. Best of all is ‘George Square Thatcher Death Party’: fast and electronic with high mysterious voices offset by guitars; evocative, energetic, meaningful.
- Jude Clarke

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Mungo’s Hi Fi – Forward Ever

Mungo’s Hi Fi exemplifies Sound System culture in Scotland. Whilst Forward Ever takes strong hints from the digital reggae era of the 1980s, it firmly embraces today’s reggae nuances and beyond through the constant encouragement of creative collaboration – as documented on the track “Computer Age”. Forward Ever is an album generous of vocal styles and superb riddim construction.
- Rich Etteridge

Remember Remember – The Quickening

The wistful beauty and gorgeous instrumentation heard on the band’s debut is well enough represented here to satisfy the most ardent optimist (…) Ronald and his cohorts have effortlessly established theirmodus operandi, an ambitious mix of detailed song structure and freewheeling experimentalism. But above all, the melodies reign supreme and it’s the melodies you’ll come back for, time and again.
- Chris Lo

Rustie – Glass Swords

A modern dance album for people who don’t even like “dance music” in its standardised form. Each track is varied and versatile, complete with epic build-ups and breakdowns, and a dizzying array of influences. Glass Swords is a constant 46-minute high, demonstrated most audibly in ‘Surph’, ‘All Nite’ and ‘After Light’. Indulgent yet effective: pure euphoric escapism.
- Heather Steele

Tommy Smith – Karma

Scottish saxophonist Tommy Smith has put together an expansive group for his latest LP Karma. Taking quite traditional starting point for his music he quickly expands, finding a groove that flirts with acid jazz and worldlier influences. This is a record that appeals to jazz purists and casual listeners alike – there’s nothing here to scare the former and plenty to interest the latter.
- Rich Hughes

Twin Atlantic – Free

Where Biffy Clyro took a career to hone their sound, Twin Atlantic have nailed it at their second attempt and their album “Free”, with it’s rough edges and unctuous core, hellishly addictive riffs and bitingly honest lyrics, delivered in Sam McTrusty’s thick Glaswegian brogue, are radio-rock’s secret weapon.
- John Skibeat