Choice Prize: A profile of the 10 nominees for Irish album of the year being announced Thursday

Cmat and Amble are among the favourites for the RTÉ Choice Music Prize.  Eoghan O'Sullivan runs the rule over the eclectic bunch in with a chance of taking the top prize

Amble – Reverie 

Robbie Cunningham, Oisín McCaffrey, and Ross McNerney have enjoyed unbelievable success since forming in 2022 with the aim of playing covers in pubs. They quit their jobs (teachers and data scientist, respectively) to sign a deal with Warners in 2024, have played all over the world, and basked in three sold-out shows in the 3Arena in December. Oh, and they’ve clocked up over 100m streams after releasing their debut album Reverie last May. Like Kingfishr - who’ve enjoyed a similarly rapid ascent - there’s something comfortingly familiar to the likes of Schoolyard Days and Lonely Island.