Receiving the award, the band's bass player and vocalist Oliver Sim thanked XL, parent company Beggars and Young Turks, the XL label that signed the band.

Simon Frith, chair of judges, said, "The xx have a unique sense of time and space - urban and enigmatic. The result is a wonderfully atmospheric album - sparse, urgent, hypnotic and powerful".

The xx were a popular choice: on being nominated for the award, their album became the immediate bookmakers' favourite, only being ...