The Neutron Prize is back; it’s our alternative to the Mercury Prize. Here are 12 outstanding records from the UK released over the past twelve months that make up the shortlist for this year. Previous winners include Bethan Lloyd, Adwaith, The Anchoress, Islet and Kathryn Joseph.
Bob Vylan – Humble As The Sun
Bob Vylan‘s Humble As The Sun emanates a hopeful positivity like we’ve never seen before. Quite possibly their best effort yet, a materialisation of the defiant nature of those who find themselves struggling under the weight of oppression that has been placed upon them by the infrastructures in place that we see day in and day out in this country. But what this album does so differently in comparison to the duo’s previous two releases is that embodiment of an unshakeable positive energy, and a manifestation of something better. (Josh Allen)
Chroma – Ask for Angela
Chroma have been one of Wales’s best-kept secrets. This fearsome Welsh three-piece has produced righteous bilingual noise pop for the last few years, powered by visceral riffing, pummelling drums and Katie Hall’s powerhouse vocal performances. They signed to Alcopop! Records for their awesome debut album Ask for Angela this year. Lead single ‘Don’t Mind Me’ laced with chunky fuzzy bar chords and twitchy drums serves as a platform for Katie’s incendiary vocals charting her struggles with mental health, magnifying her personal experiences and raging at the unfairness of the mental health system. It’s a universal struggle and offers an “I’ve been there too” lifeline to many who have suffered with their mental health, especially since lockdown. Chroma should be damn proud of this record. (Bill Cummings)
Camera Obscura – Look To The East, Look To The West
Look To The East, Look To The West is a ‘comeback’ album, but it doesn’t really feel like one. Part of the reason for that is Tracyanne Campbell, who has lost none of her prowess when it comes to writing captivating melodies or lyrics with a strong message that makes you either want to punch the air or crumble in a heap. ‘Liberty Print‘ falls into the latter category; a song about Campbell’s brother, who died tragically young at 34. ‘We’re Going To Make It In A Man’s World‘ is the polar opposite; its defiant lyrics are self-explanatory and swathed in Campbell’s captivating vocals and given a kind of ’60s feel. Again, it’s a wholly irresistible composition with one of the strongest hooks that Camera Obscura have put out to date. Look To The East, Look To The West is sorrowful yet happily nostalgic, uncertain yet full of intent, and easily one of the most tenderly affecting albums you’ll hear in 2024. I’d say it’s a must-have. (Loz Etheridge)
Bill Ryder-Jones – Iechya Da
Bill Ryder-Jones ushered us into 2024 with his new record Iechyd Da (Good Health), and how thankful are we for this beautiful and relatable album. It wouldn’t be a Ryder-Jones release if he did not walk with a stone in his shoe and share that journey with his audience, but with Iechyd Da there feels a further shift, delivering personal truths with elegance, and the key element of hope. The new album’s title is both ironic – given how often he speaks of his health struggles – but offers manageable optimism. Iechyd Da is a record you want to spend a lot of time with. An emotional investment returning rich rewards. Read our interview with Ryder-Jones about the record. (Cath Holland)
Elkka – Prism of Pleasure
Composed over 18 months, Prism of Pleasure is Cardiff producer Elkka stepping into her own light as an out queer woman who explores, sensuality and freedom: with such a wide vista of vibrant sounds there’s still an intimacy to her work. Heady and ripe with anthemic floor-filling cuts brimming with sensuality and adventure, Prism of Pleasure bringing you into the mind’s eye of the female gaze. From ‘Make Me’s addictive floor-filling beats, seductive mantras and dappling keyboards to the silky vocals of ‘Crushhh’ to the slow-burning ‘Your Skin’ (“I’m breathing you in, I want to taste every inch of your skin”), Prism of Pleasure sounds like an inventive masterclass that runs the gamut of club sonics and moulds them in her own image. It’s the illuminating of Elkka’s hidden pleasures, and it’s a triumph. (Bill Cummings)
Enjoyable Listens – Trapped in the Cage of a Hateful Bird
What Luke does more than most is make your most vivid dreams come true. When I say dreams, I mean those fantastical moments during sleep that you’ve forgotten by the morning. That is because Luke is a real-life but much smaller BFG, taking your dreams, sitting in the shadows (in a non-creepy way), catching them as they float away, bottling them up in his cave (van) travelling around and distributing these dreams as songs from his magic trumpet (elixir coated vocal chords). (Jim Auton)
Georgia Ruth – Cool Head
Georgia Ruth‘s beautiful fourth studio album, Cool Head is her best yet. A tale of keeping your calm when things around you are falling apart. Written in the year after her husband and collaborator was taken seriously ill, Georgia describes the album as a long drive through the night into the morning: a journey through the darkness into the light. This warm, gorgeously drawn collection of songs, spans elements of wide-open Americana to ’60s-influenced folk ballads of Europe and is centred with a melodic heart and a well-worn craft of subtle and reflective songwriting. Ruth’s open-hearted vocals are gorgeously quivering in an upper register, ripe with a longing for the open road and all the escape, freedom and unknown it represents. (Bill Cummings)
L E M F R E C K – Blood, Sweat & Fears
L E M F R E C K’s music skirts the lines of hip-hop, dub and grime, influences grooves and gospel, carrying with it his unmistakable stamp and unique voice fired by his own experiences and the poverty and injustice in his community. There’s an intensity and laser-focused detail, at the core of his delivery, naturally shifting from flow to singing. Blurring genres seamlessly, his songs informed by his roots as a Newport gospel session artist, his time as a producer for the Pirate grime scene in Bristol and Wales, to the present day where he’s immersed himself in South London’s flourishing music scene. (Bill Cummings)
SPRINTS – Letter to Self
“Do you ever feel like the room is heavy?” asks Karla. Often. It’s a word that often comes to mind when listening to Letter to Self. Not so much on ‘Heavy’ the last single that came out the day before the LP landed. Instead, there are angular guitar lines and a tempo that makes you think of countrymen Fontaines DC. Had we had the best album of 2024 just five days into the year? Quite possibly. Note to self: go and see Sprints as soon as possible. (Jim Auton)
Y Dail – Teigr
Ah, this album; the under-celebrated debut from Y Dail (The Leaves), centered around the considerable talents of Huw Griffiths from Pontypridd, South Wales. Griffiths’ reference points are vast and deliciously unexpected, grabbing whatever pleases his prejudice-free ears and eyes. As a result, Teigr is rich in melody and literary appreciation. A pop album for sure, but this is no predictable outing; fresh and clean with surreal imagery and clever, tongue-in-cheek storytelling with plastic 1980s keyboards and buzzy guitars… Listening to Teigr these last months has reminded me over and over why we focus on new Welsh music, and that’s a fixed-in-stone fact. Bloody fantastic. Interview with Huw Griffiths here (Cath Holland)
Ynys- Dosbarth Nos
With 2022 debut album Ynys, Dylan Hughes enjoyed the notion of ‘more is more’, yet pushed on even further with that theme on Dosbarth Nos. It feels such a happy triumph, a bona fide banger that one, a tale of evening class adventure… The album, ultimately, leaves us with the feeling how love and hope are the things to focus on, if we can, in amongst the mess that is life. The record sounds glamorous, it’s worth mentioning, shiny and glossy, very much a ‘here I am’ album. No one puts Ynys in the corner, clearly. Read our interview here (Cath Holland)
Whitelands- Night-bound Eyes Are Blind To The Day
London Shoegaze quartet, Whitelands, sonically bloom in their stunning debut album Night-bound Eyes Are Blind to the Day, fusing a polyphonic bouquet of glorious riffs, blurred and bathed in a rippling ocean of reverb, weaving hazy tremolo motifs between achingly beautiful harmonies. They soar from liquid depths, into heavenly choruses, rich with cascades of sonic swirls. The album is bookended by two poetically political songs addressing imperialism, racism and performative ignorance, impeccably laced through smoky dream-pop melodies Meditative, romantic and reflective; nostalgic yet ground-breaking, their ethereal waves of sound will wash over you and cleanse your soul. It feels like they have captured lightning in a bottle with this album. They are one of the most stunning, skilful and vital voices on the scene right now and are 21st Century Shoegaze champions. (Carmel Walsh)
