East India Youth gets sentimental at the Mercury Prize ceremony: “Music is the real winner tonight”

East India Youth - aka William Doyle - is up for this year’s Mercury Prize for his debut album ‘Total Strife Forever’, released in January of this year through Stolen Recordings.

Speaking to DIY from the ceremony’s red carpet, he says the evening’s proceedings are “a lot of good fun [with] a lot of good people” - and explains that his favourite of the nominees is FKA twigs, who’s up for her debut ‘LP1’.

“There’s a lot of really good stuff there,” he explains. “It’s been nice getting familiar with people’s records. I think [twigs] is capable of doing things on her own and I’m looking forward to seeing what she comes up with.”

“Music is the real winner tonight.”

As for his own music, he’s currently working on new material and has got a few collaborations in the pipeline, too - but “none that I can talk about now,” he reveals. “There’s a couple.”

Other acts nominated for the Mercury Prize 2014 include Bombay Bicycle Club, Royal Blood, Anna Calvi, FKA twigs and Jungle. The winner will be announced later this evening (Wednesday 29th October) at the Roundhouse, London ceremony.