Fleet Foxes debut win Uncut Music Award

Seattle five-piece Fleet Foxes have beaten off competition from the likes of Radiohead and Elbow to be awarded the first ever Uncut Music Award. The band's eponymous debut album was unanimously hailed by a panel of industry judges as the most inspiring and richly rewarding album of the last 12 months.

Frontman Robin Pecknold said: "It's awesome. It's crazy, I never expected to be in contention for this kind of thing. It makes us want to step up our game. I see it as you throwing down the gauntlet – now we have to live up to it. Obviously prizes are not something you should think about or hope for when you're making music. I hope our next album isn't like an awards grab, like the equivalent of a Clint Eastwood movie, y'know, Oscar bait. If we set out to try and win album of the year, we'll end up sounding like Coldplay or something."

The first inaugural Uncut Music Award was launched in August and is open to artists of any nationality - offering a welcome addition to the music awards landscape. A 'long list' of 25 albums released between 1st September 2007 – 31st August 2008 was sent to a nine-strong panel of industry experts who then selected the shortlist. The eight records on the shortlist were: Bon Iver – Forever Ago, Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid, The Drive-by Truckers – Brighter Than Creation's Dark, The Felice Brothers – The Felice Brothers, Fleet Foxes – Fleet Foxes, The Raconteurs – Consolers of the Lonely, Radiohead – In Rainbows, Vampire Weekend – Vampire Weekend.

The panel which included broadcaster Mark Radcliffe and ex EMI chief executive Tony Wadsworth, met in November to choose the overall winner.

Mark Radcliffe said of the Fleet Foxes album: "I think it's an extraordinary piece of work, and a worthy first winner of the prize. It's a beautiful vocal creation, a record that seems to have echoes of all kinds of indigenous American music, but also African music and even medieval strains. All the songs on the album are absolutely brilliant, and it just has a magical, ethereal quality."

Meanwhile Allan Jones, editor of Uncut said: "Fleet Foxes are a group who impressed everybody thoroughly for all the right reasons. It's a record that I think is unique to this year, and will remain unique for many years to come. It came out of nowhere, you couldn't have predicted its existence."