RTÉ Choice Music Prize nominees announced: Fontaines and Denise Chaila among contenders for Irish album of the year 

The shortlist of 10 acts for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize features a strong list of contenders across a range of genres

Denise Chaila, Fontaines DC, Pillow Queens and Róisín Murphy are among the nominees for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish album of the year. 

Gigs may have been in short supply in 2020, but the shortlist for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize Irish Album of the Year still reveals an impressive depth of homegrown music output in the Covid era. The 10 nominated albums were announced on Wednesday, and feature a multi-genre combination of well-established names and emerging acts.

The prize is notoriously unpredictable but a couple of names already stand out as contenders. Fontaines DC lead the charge from the guitar-driven corner with A Hero’s Death, hoping to take the top prize after their debut Dogrel lost out last year to Lankum's The Livelong Day. The Dublin rockers have also been nominated for a Grammy award in the US.

Also in the running must be Limerick-based Denise Chaila, who exploded on the scene last year with her articulate raps and powerful stage presence in a series of livestreamed performances and a Late Late Show spot. The 26-year-old was at pains to point out that Go Bravely was a mixtape rather than an album, but she would have been impossible to ignore for these nominations.

While the year ahead will probably see Chaila breaking beyond these shores, Wicklow-born Róisín Murphy has already walked the path of international credibility. Róisín Machine saw the 47-year-old produce an album of 21st-century disco that provided the soundtrack to many lockdown-relieving home-bound boogies.

Usually announced at a live event in Vicar Street, this year's winner will be revealed  on Thursday, March 4, on the Tracy Clifford Show on RTÉ 2FM. The show will feature live performances from some of the shortlisted acts. A special highlights programme will be broadcast on RTÉ2 television the following week.

The shortlist:

• Bitch Falcon - Staring at Clocks (Small Pond Recordings) 
• Denise Chaila - Go Bravely (narolane) 
• Fontaines D.C. - A Hero’s Death (Partisan Records)
• JyellowL - 2020 DIvision (JyellowL Records) 
• Róisín Murphy - Róisín Machine (Loaded Records)
• Nealo - All The Leaves Are Falling (2020 Nealo) 
• Pillow Queens - In Waiting (Pillow Queens Records)
• Ailbhe Reddy - Personal History (Friends of the Family)
• Niamh Regan – Hemet (The Black Gate Label)
• Silverbacks – Fad (Central Tones)