Dave has won the 2019 Hyundai Mercury Prize.
The annual award for the best British album of the past twelve months was presented to ‘Psychodrama’, his chart topping record released earlier this year.
The judging panel said “Psychodrama is the musical equivalent of a literary masterpiece: a conceptual album about Dave’s experience of growing up in South London, structured in the form of a therapy session, which takes a deeply personal story and gives it universal relevance. Psychodrama is a moving, musically sophisticated work that tackles complex themes of identity, class, relationships and politics and demands total attention from the listener. It will have lasting relevance for a generation and underlines the importance of the album as an art form, making it the perfect winner of the 2019 Hyundai Mercury Prize”
It beat the lines of Anna Calvi, black midi, Cate Le Bon, Foals, Fontaines D.C., IDLES, Little Simz, NAO, SEED Ensemble and slowthai to the prize.
That means Dave takes home a £25,000 cheque and a lovely trophy. Well done, Dave.
