Unto the white-upturned wondering eyes

Is it only one year ago that I was willing the magnificent Scritti Politti to win the Mercury Music Prize? Alas, the gong went to the Arctic Monkeys’ fairly worthy but over-hyped debut and Green Gartside had to content himself with this very website’s hard-won accolade, ‘Album of the Year’ for the bewitching White Bread, Black Beer. The 2007 winner will be announced tomorrow evening and I’m gunning for either Maps or Fionn Regan although one would be hard-pressed to find two more disparate recordings. Maps’ We Can Create is a shimmering shoe-gazing/nu-gazing slice of fattening indie-tinged gateau while young folk prince Regan’s understated but fulfilling acoustic ramblings on The End of History allow this listener to tap his foot, smile wistfully and nod appreciatively at unusual melodic joy all at the same time. If you click the above links, you can read what I thought about these recordings at the time. None of the other nominees interest me too much although I have enjoyed, thus far, what I have heard of the improbably nomenclatured Bat For Lashes.