Irish acts CMAT and Fontaines DC nominated for 2025 Mercury Prize
By Casey Cooper-Fiske, PA Senior Entertainment Reporter
CMAT and Fontaines DC are among the acts whose albums have been nominated for the 2025 Mercury Prize.
Britpop band Pulp, singer-songwriter Sam Fender, Wolf Alice, FKA Twigs, PinkPantheress, Pa Salieu, Emma-Jean Thackray, Jacob Alon, Joe Webb, and Martin Carthy complete the 12-artist shortlist, with the winner to be announced at the awards ceremony in Newcastle on October 16th.
The prize, which has been running since 1992, when it was won by Primal Scream’s Screamadelica, aims to champion the album format as well as new music in Ireland and the UK across an eclectic range of genres.
CMAT, whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, has been nominated for her third LP, Euro-Country, while Pulp, who won the prize in 1996 for their album Different Class, have been nominated for More, their first album in more than 20 years
Pulp were also nominated in 1994 for His ‘N’ Hers, and in 1998 for This Is Hardcore.
CMAT was previously nominated in 2024 for her album Crazymad, For Me, while Fender, who is nominated for his third album People Watching, was previously nominated for Seventeen Going Under in 2022.
Post-punks Fontaines DC have been nominated for their 2024 album Romance, having previously been nominated in 2019 for their debut album Dogrel, while indie rockers Wolf Alice are nominated for their fourth album The Clearing, released in August, having previously won with 2017’s Visions Of A Life in 2018.
Wolf Alice have been nominated for all of their studio albums, with debut My Love Is Cool missing out on the prize in 2015, and third LP Blue Weekend missing out in 2021.
Singer FKA Twigs, who was previously nominated for her debut studio album LP1, has received a nod for her third album Eusexua, while producer and singer PinkPantheress has received her first appearance on the shortlist for her second mixtape, Fancy That.
Rapper Salieu, DJ Thackray, singer Alon, pianist Webb, and folk singer Carthy, who was a member of Steeleye Span in the 1970s, are also all receiving their first shortlist nomination for the prize.
Carthy has been nominated for his latest album, Transform Me Then Into A Fish; Webb has been nominated for Hamstrings And Hurricanes, Alon has been nominated for In Limerence, and Thackray has been nominated for Weirdo.
The awards are this year judged by a panel that includes jazz star Jamie Cullum, DJ Jamz Supernova, and The Times pop and rock critic Will Hodgkinson, and is chaired by BBC Radio 2 head of music Jeff Smith.
The 2025 ceremony will see the first time the awards have been held outside of London at Newcastle’s Utilita Arena, where it will feature live performances for a number of the nominees.
Further details are to be announced in due course.
