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Electronic trio win Mercury prize
Indie trio The xx have landed the Mercury Prize for their debut album xx.
The south London band won the prize ahead of 11 other shortlisted acts at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in central London on Tuesday, and victory saw it follow in the footsteps of acts such as Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys and Elbow.
The group - childhood friends who attended the same south west London school - beat acts such as bookies' favourite Paul Weller and past winner Dizzee Rascal to land the award which previously has provided the winners with a huge boost in sales.
The award - fully called the Barclaycard Mercury Prize - is designed to reward the best album of the past 12 months and is worth £20,000.
Frontman Oliver Sim was stunned by the award: "I don't know what we were expecting but we weren't expecting this."
Collecting the prize from award host Jools Holland, he said: "We've had the most incredible year and it's just felt like every day we've woken up to something incredible we weren't expecting."
Asked what he would spend the prize money on, a clearly stunned Sim said: "Haven't a clue."
But bandmate Romy Croft suggested a new studio could be on the cards. She said: "We made this album in a converted garage the size of a bathroom."
The south London band won the prize ahead of 11 other shortlisted acts at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in central London on Tuesday, and victory saw it follow in the footsteps of acts such as Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys and Elbow.
The group - childhood friends who attended the same south west London school - beat acts such as bookies' favourite Paul Weller and past winner Dizzee Rascal to land the award which previously has provided the winners with a huge boost in sales.
The award - fully called the Barclaycard Mercury Prize - is designed to reward the best album of the past 12 months and is worth £20,000.
Frontman Oliver Sim was stunned by the award: "I don't know what we were expecting but we weren't expecting this."
Collecting the prize from award host Jools Holland, he said: "We've had the most incredible year and it's just felt like every day we've woken up to something incredible we weren't expecting."
Asked what he would spend the prize money on, a clearly stunned Sim said: "Haven't a clue."
But bandmate Romy Croft suggested a new studio could be on the cards. She said: "We made this album in a converted garage the size of a bathroom."
