James Blake Wins Mercury Prize- Listen

Submitted by Foreign Students on Thu 31/10/13

The annual Mercury Prize awarded to the best British album of the year was held last night, with experimental, ambient artist James Blake taking home the award for his second album Overgrown.

He beat bookies' favourite soul singer Laura Mvula and the legendary David Bowie to the £20,000 prize, joking "well, I lost the bet".

The prize traditionally celebrates the more unusual and obscure music produced in Britain each year. However, critics claimed that the nominees were too mainstream this year with large acts like Arctic Monkeys, Disclosure, Rudimental and Jake Bugg all on the shortlist.

The smaller acts were however also represented by the likes of folk band Villagers, the all-female punks Savages and electronic musician John Hopkins.

You can listen to one of the tracks from the winning James Blake album below, or download the entire album here.