Irish singer on Mercury shortlist

Irish singer-songwriter Fionn Regan has been nominated for the 2007 Mercury music prize with his debut release, The End of History.

Earlier this year, Regan was nominated for Ireland's Choice Music Prize, but was pipped at the post by Divine Comedy's album, Victory for the Comic Muse.

The Mercury prize is widely regarded as the most prestigious contemporary music award in Britain and Ireland. The winner will be announced in London on September 4th.

Regan told The Irish Times that having The End of History chosen as one of 12 nominated records out of hundreds was an honour and a privilege. "Sometimes you feel like you're travelling around on a shoestring or a tightrope, with a 2x4 piece of wood trying to get across from Dún Laoghaire to Holyhead.

"You feel like you're down a cave and someone shines a flashlight on you. It's been a year on the road, playing the album everywhere from mop cupboards to telephone boxes, and this is a great way to end off that 12-month period."

From Bray, Regan - the son of musician/artist parents - started off in the usual manner of up-and-coming singer-songwriters by joining Dublin's folk circuit and mingling with the then struggling Damien Rice. Following the recording and release in 2004 of five-track EP The Hotel Room (a 1,000-copy limited edition CD that will now surely become a rare collector's item), Regan left Ireland for a year or so, beginning work on The End of History through a succession of solo recording sessions in houses, barns and sheds.

On release in Ireland last year, The End of History picked up largely positive reviews, with some critics comparing the material to cult British singer-songwriter Nick Drake and early Bob Dylan. At the time, Regan dismissed such comparisons, preferring instead to reference Woody Guthrie.

"Once you hear Woody," he told Mojo magazine in January of this year, "you can't forget him. Just those stories, like ghosts moving around in the background. He painted pictures in my mind." Mojo described the album as having "luminescent, nuanced narratives, matched by his acoustic guitar-picking and subtly keening vocal".

Signed in America to the Lost Highway record label (home to, among others, Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams and Willie Nelson), Regan gained a presence in the US through the use of his song Be Good or Be Gone in an episode of Grey's Anatomy. The same song was also used this year on a European television ad for Toyota.

Does he think he might win? "Awards and competitions - of course, everybody likes a rosette or a bunch of flowers. At the same time I had no ideas or fantasies, not even in the slightest, that I'd be nominated for something like this."

He begins a tour of the US and Canada this Friday. He returns to Ireland to play at the Electric Picnic event in Stradbally, Co Laois, in September.

Nominees

Fionn Regan: The End Of History

Arctic Monkeys: Favourite Worst Nightmare

Klaxons: Myths Of The Near Future

Amy Winehouse: Back To Black

Maps: We Can Create

The View: Hats Off To The Buskers

Jamie T: Panic Prevention

Dizzee Rascal: Maths & English

Bat For Lashes: Fur And Gold

Young Knives: Voices of Animals And Men

New Young Pony Club: Fantastic Playroom

Basquiat Strings: Basquiat Strings