Mercury Prize 2018 shortlist: Lily Allen, Arctic Monkeys and Nadine Shah contending for annual music prize

Arctic Monkeys, Florence & The Machine, Lily Allen, Noel Gallagher and Novelist are among the shortlisted artists on this year’s Hyundai Mercury Prize.

The shortlist was picked by a panel of 12 experts judges from the music industry, including broadcaster and DJ Clara Amfo, jazz musician Jamie Cullum, singers Lianne La Havas, Marcus Mumford and Ella Eyre, and music critics Will Hodgkinson (The Times) and Harriet Gibsone (deputy editor, The Guardian Guide).

The shortlist was selected from over 200 albums entered for the prestigious music award, narrowed down to 12 after months of listening. The prize aims to recognise artistic achievement across a range of genres. Albums by British and Irish artists with a UK release date between 22 July 2017 and 20 July 2018 were eligible for this year’s prize.

Last year’s Mercury Prize was awarded to Sampha for his album Process, while Skepta picked up the award for his record Konnichiwa in 2016. The awards take place on 20 September at the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, London.

Arctic Monkeys – Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

Everything Everything – A Fever Dream

Everything Is Recorded – Everything Is Recorded

Florence & The Machine – High As Hope

Jorja Smith – Lost & Found

King Krule – The Ooz

Lily Allen – No Shame

Nadine Shah – Holiday Destination

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – Who Built The Moon?

Novelist – Novelist Guy

Sons Of Kemet – Your Queen Is A Reptile

Wolf Alice – Visions Of A Life

Sheffield rock band Arctic Monkeys scored their fourth Mercury Prize nomination for the divisive concept album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, which was released in May this year. The band won the Mercury Prize in 2006 for their debut album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not.

Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino was written by frontman Alex Turner on a Steinway Vertegrand piano at his home in LA, and incorporates elements of lounge pop, glam rock and psychedelia, signalling a major departure from its predecessor, the guitar-heavy AM.

The Independent gave it four out of five stars upon its release, praising it for its bold leap to a new sound and for Turner’s stream-of-consciousness lyrics, which narrated characters living at the titular hotel.

Florence & The Machine were shortlisted for their fourth studio album High As Hope, which featured the single “Hunger” where singer Florence Welch featured some of her most personal lyrics to date. This is the third time the band have been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize.

Noel Gallagher’s band High Flying Birds made it onto the shortlist for their album Who Built The Moon?. Gallagher has been shortlisted two times before with his former band, Oasis.

Rapper Novelist appears on the shortlist for the first time with his self-produced debut album Novelist Guy, which has influences as wide-ranging as the Pet Shop Boys and the soundtrack for 80s TV show Beverly Hills Cop, and features astute social commentary about youth culture in the UK.

Novelist and singer Jorja Smith are the youngest artists on this year’s shortlist, both aged 21: Smith was shortlisted for her debut album Lost & Found, released in June this year. She was consistently named through 2017 as one of the UK’s most promising new artists and was featured twice on Drake’s album More Life, supporting him in the UK and Canada. She won the Brit Critics’ Choice Award in January this year.

Arguably one of the more surprising appearances is Lily Allen earning her first ever Mercury Prize nod for her anticipated fourth studio album No Shame, which The Independent hailed as a “return to form” following the lukewarm reception to her previous record Sheezus.

“She’s managed to move with the times but still hold onto a sound that defines her as an artist, rather than attempting to emulate anyone else… that freshness is enabled by the fact that she still, after all this time, has the finger on the pulse of modern music,” The Independent review said.

King Krule (singer-songwriter Archy Marshall) received his first Mercury Prize nomination for third album The Ooz, which made The Independent’s Albums of the Year 2017 list. Nadine Shah was another newcomer on the Mercury Prize shortlist, for her record Holiday Destination.

British jazz group Sons of Kemet – formed of Shabaka Hutchings, Eddie Hick, Tom Skinner and Theon Cross, received a nod for their album Your Queen Is A Reptile. The album and sleeve notes reference how the British monarchy does not represent black immigrants, while the track titles all pay tribute to influential black women throughout history.

Meanwhile, XL founder and producer Richard Russell made it onto the list with an album titled after his project Everything Is Recorded, which includes collaborations with Kamasi Washington and last year’s Mercury Prize winner Sampha.

Alternative rock band Wolf Alice were shortlisted for their second album Visions of a Life, marking the second time in a row they have been nominated for the Mercury Prize, after their debut My Love Is Cool received a nod in 2015. Indie rock band Everything Everything have also made the shortlist for the second time, with their album A Fever Dream.

The judges for this year’s Mercury Prize are:

Clara Amfo – broadcaster and DJ

Danielle Perry – broadcaster and writer

Ella Eyre – musician and songwriter

Harriet Gibsone – deputy editor, The Guardian Guide

Jamie Cullum – musician and songwriter

Jeff Smith – head of music, 6 Music and Radio 2

Lianne La Havas – musician and songwriter

Marcus Mumford – musician and songwriter

Mike Walsh – head of music, Radio X

MistaJam – DJ and broadcaster

Phil Alexander – creative director, Kerrang!/contributing editor, Mojo

Will Hodgkinson – chief rock and pop critic, The Times

The winner of the 2018 Hyundai Mercury Prize will be revealed on 20 September during a ceremony at the Eventim Apollo in London