I Am Kloot frontman John Bramwell talks to Creative Times about the band’s Sky At Night album being nominated for the Mercury Prize, his fascination with the night, and what writing a song really means to him.

It was a beautiful Manchester day in August when Creative Times caught up with I Am Kloot’s John Bramwell, so what better place to chat than a dimly-lit bar?

Not any old bar, of course. Big Hands has a special place in the heart of many a Mancunian musician, and Bramwell is a regular; the place even inspired one of the songs, To The Brink, on I Am Kloot’s Mercury Prize-nominated Sky At Night album.

“Being nominated for the Mercury Prize is a ‘Hello Mum’ moment,” Bramwell tells us. “I hope we win it.” The odds may be against the band walking away with the prize, but stranger things have happened (M People in 1994, Speech Debelle last year?). Fingers crossed, then.

Sky At Night would be a worthy winner. It may not be musically groundbreaking, but it’s a richly human, emotionally honest and beautifully made record. Songwriting doesn’t get much better than this, and, prize or no prize, John Bramwell deserves his place in the sun. Even if he’d rather be perfecting a song in the depths of the night.

The winner of this year’s Mercury Prize is announced on September 7.