Choice Music Prize judges are spoiled for choice but I know what my heart says

It was never going to be an easy task for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize judges to whittle it down to 10 and their list — which was released this week — captures how healthy and vibrant the Irish music scene is right now.

There was one album that was always going to be there. They might as well have abandoned the awards if Lankum’s False Lankum didn’t make the cut. The Dubliners’ fourth long player was been a critical sensation, particularly in Britain. It was both Uncut and the Guardian’s album of the year and it came close to the top of most of the UK polls.

Lankum are at the vanguard of the renaissance of Irish folk music, one whose burgeoning international reputation was captured by a fine New York Times article last year.

Another trad maestro, John Francis Flynn, has earned a nomination for his second album, Look Over the Wall, See the Sky, and many will have been surprised that Lisa O’Neill didn’t get the nod for her exquisite album All of This is Chance.

False Lankum was the album I deemed to be the second best made by an Irish artist in 2023. For top spot, I plumped for Soda Blonde’s marvellous second offering Dream Big. With nods to such artists as Kate Bush and Fleetwood Mac, it’s packed with wonderfully crafted songs and boasts a production to match the best anywhere.

The band were nominated for their first album, Small Talk, in 2022, but lost out to For Those I Love’s singular, self-titled debut. Led by Faye O’Rourke, the band existed in another guise before — as the excellent Little Green Cars, but the departure of guitarist Stevie Appleby prompted both a name change and something of a musical detour.

Listen to Dream Big and it’s hard to fathom how the album has not enjoyed far greater exposure. The music business is littered with wonderful talents who never quite got their due, and winning the Choice Music Prize might just be the kick-start that this wonderful band needs.

The Dubliners’ fourth long player was been a critical sensation, particularly in Britain. It was both Uncut and the Guardian’s album of the year

Last year’s winner, CMAT, is nominated again and this time for an even better album, CrazyMad for Me. Should she win, it would be the first time that the Choice Prize has gone to the same artist in successive years. And, since its foundation in 2005, only one act, Jape, has won it twice. Of this year’s 10, only CMAT and Lankum have won it before.

I’ve been on the Choice Music Prize judging panel on three occasions and know that each judge takes their responsibility seriously. Each of the albums gets thoroughly parsed and it can take more than three hours of passionate deliberation around a table to come up with the winner.

That’s not to say the judges always get it right. Who knows what they were thinking when the debut album from Kildare outfit Super Extra Bonus Party beat superior records from the likes of Cathy Davey and Róisín Murphy for the 2007 Irish album of the year?

Every year, the nominations throw up a surprise. I didn’t expect Ezra Williams’ debut Supernumeraries to be included — simply because it had flown under the radar — and while Rachael Lavelle’s beautifully honed Big Dreams made an impression, I assumed some of the more established names would be there instead.

As ever, there are eye-catching omissions. I’m stunned at Róisín Murphy isn’t there for the best album of her career, Hit Parade, and can’t help but wonder if some judges didn’t nominate her simply because she had inadvertently weighed in on the increasingly fraught ‘trans debate’.

Cian Nugent is another surprise omission. She Brings Me Back to the Land of the Living is a beautiful meditation on love and loss and inspired by his care for his mother who suffered a debilitating stroke five years ago.

There are also no nods for the four Irish acts who topped the UK album charts in 2023 — so nothing for U2’s warmed up album of old material, Songs of Surrender (Bono et al have only had one nomination to date), Hozier’s Unreal Unearth or Niall Horan’s The Show. Comparative newcomer Cian Ducort also topped the UK album charts with Victory, but the Choice judges were unmoved. Another big-name domestic act, Inhaler, also failed to get a nod for their second album, Cuts and Bruises. Their debut, It Won’t Always Be Like This, was also ignored by judges for the 2021 Irish Album of the Year.

So, who will win it? The smart money is on Lankum, who were also nominated for the Mercury Music Prize (which honours best British and Irish albums) but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if the Murder Capital were triumphant with their second album, Gigi’s Recovery. Kojaque could be a dark horse, too, for third album Phantom of the Afters.

The winning act will be announced at the RTÉ Choice Music Prize live event which at Vicar Street, Dublin, on March 7. Several of the acts will perform on the night and the concert will be broadcast in full on 2FM.

For me, the head says Lankum, but the heart’s for Soda Blonde.

*This article was amended on Friday 19 January regarding past winners of the Choice Music Prize.