THE Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) Award Longlist has been revealed.

Twenty top acts have been shortlisted for the much-anticipated annual award and were announced at the O2 ABC.

They include: Adam Holmes and The Embers for Brighter Still; C Duncan with The Midnight Sun; Ela Orleans with Circles of Upper and Lower Hell; Fatherson for Open Book; Frightened Rabbit with Painting of a Panic Attack; Honeyblood for Babes Never Die; The Jesus and Mary Chain’s Damage and Joy; King Creosote’s Astronaut Meets Appleman; Konx-om-Pax with Caramel; Meursault for I Will Kill Again and Modern Studies with Swell To Great.

The shortlist also includes Mogwai’s Atomic; Pictish Trail’s Future Echoes; Rachel Newton’s Here’s My Heart Come Take It; RM Hubbert with Tell The Trees; Sacred Paws with Strike A Match; Starless with their eponymous album; Here by Teenage Fanclub; TeenCanteen with Say It All With A Kiss; and Vukovi’s self-titled album.

Now in its sixth year, The SAY Award boasts a £20,000 top prize and nine runners-up prizes of £1000.

The public can listen to and learn more about each album on The SAY Award Longlist by going to www.sayaward.com where there will be two featured albums every day from Monday May 29.

Robert Kilpatrick, Projects and Operations Manager, Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA), said: “What an incredibly strong, diverse and important list of contemporary Scottish records, all being championed and celebrated through The SAY Award.

"The announcement of The Longlist is one of the most exciting parts of The SAY Award campaign and is without doubt when the award is at its most potent.

"It was great to introduce Live at the Longlist this year to allow fans to come along and join us in celebrating the successes of 20 outstanding Scottish albums.

"Those attending got to hear some great live music from three homegrown and previously long-listed acts.

"On behalf of the Scottish Music Industry Association, I’d like to congratulate all of this year’s long-listed artists on fantastic album releases.”