News

The xx Win Mercury Prize, Plan To Build Their Own Studio

8:16 a.m. · September 8, 2010 · by Nick Neyland

There was really only ever going to be one winner of this year’s Mercury Music Prize, and last night it was confirmed that The xx were taking home the award in 2010. The competition (Paul Weller, Foals, Mumford and Sons) was fairly weak, but it’s still quite an achievement for the young band, who picked up a cool £20,000 for their efforts.

“Thank you so much, we’ve had the most incredible year,” said Oliver Sim from the group, as he collected the award. “Everyday we’ve woken up to something incredible.” But don’t expect The xx to go on a crazy booze and drug binge—the plan is to use the money to build a recording studio.

"We made this album in a converted garage at our record label,” said Romy Madley Croft. “We felt very lucky at the time to use it, but I think we’d love to make our own studio, somewhere where we can just experiment and let Jamie [Smith, bandmate] produce.” Congratulations to the band, and below are a few choice cuts from the record to celebrate.