Photo: WENN
Mercury nominee East India Youth has spoken out for his former tourmates Wild Beasts, declaring that they too should have been nominated for the Prize.
East India Youth, real name William Doyle, was speaking to Gigwise at the announcement of the 2014 Mercury Prize shortlist - where he was nominated alongside the likes of Royal Blood, Damon Albarn, FKA Twigs and Anna Calvi for his incredible album, Total Strife Forever.
When asked who he think should have been on the shortlisted but wasn't selected, Doyle replied: "I feel that Wild Beasts probably deserve to have been on this list. "I think Present Tense is their finest moment, really. It seemed like everything should have been going their way."
He continued: "I toured with those guys earlier this year, so I've got slightly bias after getting to know them but they're fantastic blokes and amazing, very creative musicians."
Listen to East India Youth's remix of Wild Beasts' 'A Simple Beautiful Truth' below
When asked about what went into his excellent remix of the band's track, 'A Simple Beautiful Truth', Doyle said: ""You keep the song aspect intact. I deal with songs, and I was going down the path of because it was a remix that it had to be dance-y - that's some sort of thing that a remix would be, whereas what I did with that track was redress the song, acting as a producer in some way. That's made me think about how I approach structure and such in my new music. The song can be strong - what devices are you using the make the song all it can be?"
Doyle also revealed that he'd already made some progress on his next album.
"It will feature more 'songs'," he said. "I don't sing very much on Total Strife Forever - now the ratio has completely flipped around. Everything feels stronger, more assured and I'm very excited to unleash it upon people."
Below: 12 albums that should have been nominated for the Mercury Prize
