Atmospheric English indie pop group The xx have won the Mercury Music Prize for their debut album xx, despite Paul Weller being widely tipped to win for his critically acclaimed Wake Up The Nation.

Having formed in 2008 when the members were still in high school, The xx have walked away with the AU$34,000 prize and now follow in the footsteps of previous winners such as Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, PJ Harvey and Gomez.

The judges said of The xx, "Hypnotic beats and hushed voices combine in a brilliant evocation of space and time…It's a very urban record, it is part of that urban soundscape when no-one has any idea what is going to happen next."

Frontman Oliver Sim was stunned by the music prize. "I don't know what we were expecting but we weren't expecting this," he said, accepting the award at the London ceremony last night (Tuesday 7 September), where many of the nominated acts performed.

The south London trio fought off competition from a pool that head judge Simon Frith described as, “urban and rural, light and dark, joyful and profound.” Amongst the other albums shortlisted were Laura Marling’s I Speak Because I Can, Mumford & Sons’ Sigh No More, Foals’ Total Life Forever and former winner Dizzee Rascal’s Tongue N’ Cheek. 

The award – currently called the Barclaycard Mercury Prize due to sponsorship - is designed to reward the best British or Irish album of the past 12 months, with organisers stating that, “the music on the album is the only thing taken into account.”

The award is also designed to focus attention on the winner and will hopefully mean a boost in sales for the young trio.