The odd couple

If I had a list of things I never thought I'd see, Mark Lanegan smiling would be right up there. But there he was, in his joint interview with Isobel Campbell on Friday night's Mercury Music Prize programme, with something approaching a grin. A smirk I might have expected, but a smile? Definitely not.

Anyway, it was an interesting little featurette in place of a live performance, in which they talked about the circumstances behind their collaboration and the making of Ballad Of The Broken Seas. (You never know - you might actually get a review some time, if you're lucky.) Afterwards Campbell claimed her nomination statuette, looking like a rabbit in the headlights before the crowd and cameras and mumbling something about Arthur Lee and Syd Barrett before making a hasty exit.

I didn't stay up for the whole programme, but I did see Editors open up with 'All Sparks' (which did nothing to convince me their album is anything more than solid but unspectacular, and not really worthy of its nomination) and Hot Chip perform 'Over And Over' (LCD Soundsystem on a budget anyone?). Most striking was how scary token jazz nominee Zoe Rahman is - all manic toothy grins and very long hair. Couldn't discern much of merit in her performance, but then what do I know?