Auntie Flo was announced as the winner of Scotland’s national music prize, The Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award 2019, at the weekend for the album, Radio Highlife. 

As Auntie Flo played to thousands of fans on stage at Skye Live Festival in the North of Scotland, it was announced in the Scottish capital that Radio Highlife is this year’s Scottish Album of the Year. Accepting The SAY Award on Auntie Flo’s behalf, Tour Manager / driver Phil Connor read from a napkin of words written by Brian d’Souza that said: “It’s been a privilege to document seven years of adventuring around the globe in this record. It has taken me everywhere from Cuba to South Africa to East Asia. Thank you to everyone who made that happen over the years.”

Robert Kilpatrick, General Manager of the Scottish Music Industry Association said: “This year’s campaign saw 293 eligible albums submitted, the highest number of any SAY Award campaign to date. Not only does this highlight the fact that Scotland’s recorded output is in great health, but it also shows that in spite of being in the age of algorithm-driven playlists, the album as a format still deeply matters to both artists and music fans.

Alan Morrison, Head of Music at Creative Scotland said: " Radio Highlife is absolute proof that Scotland’s music travels a two-way street with the rest of the world. Brian d’Souza has brought the sunshine of Africa into The SAY Award and gives us a worthy winner. Congratulations to him and to all of the Shortlisted nominees." 

While Auntie Flo claimed the coveted prize, the remaining nine Shortlisted albums each won a significant £1,000. This year’s Shortlist was comprised of ten albums; nine were chosen by The SAY Award Judging Panel, while Mastersystem’s Dance Music was chosen by music fans via this year’s online public vote.

The SAY Award Shortlist for 2019, in alphabetical order –

Aidan Moffat and RM Hubbert – Here Lies The Body

Andrew Wasylyk – The Paralian

Auntie Flo – Radio Highlife

C Duncan – Health

Carla J. Easton – Impossible Stuff

Fergus McCreadie Trio – Turas

Free Love – Luxury Hits

Karine Polwart with Steven Polwart & Inge Thomson – Laws of Motion

Kathryn Joseph – From When I Wake The Want Is

Mastersystem – Dance Music

Putting the world to rights and spreading a message of hope and change in turbulent times, the alias of Sam Duckworth delivers the most uplifting song about the impending apocalypse you’re likely to hear all year.Written, recorded, mixed and now released in under two weeks, the track has an urgency that chimes with the desperate and unconventional times we find ourselves living in.

Speaking about making the track and why the time for unconventionality is now, Duckworth says:“I wrote the tune last Monday. Which in this day and age, seems like it could have been both yesterday and months ago. It’s a strange timeline to be on. Collapsing empires and scrolling news.  I got into the studio with the band the next day and we just jammed it out and had fun. There’s a lot of anger in life at the moment and sometimes the best antidote is a joyful noise.

I took a few days away and started to mix it this Monday. Which seems like a whole different time line. Those in charge of our futures are failing, spectacularly. The no deal project is crumbling under its own paper thin ideology and structure. It just felt right to finish the track and put it out straight away. 

The world needs healing. It needs to hang out. It needs to dance. To laugh. To congregate. However this plays out, we’re all still in this together. Long live the Unconventionals.”Accompanied with a fittingly apocalyptic video, the postcard style clips that comprise it were filmed while Get Cape toured around America in the Spring and offer a fitting visual partner to this new song.