(Toronto) New albums by Arcade Fire, Hubert Lenoir and Les Louanges are among those shortlisted for this year’s Polaris Music Prize.
Posted at 7:28 p.m.
The long list for the Best Canadian Album award has been whittled down to 40 albums, which will compete for a spot on the shortlist, which will be revealed on July 14.
Other selected artists include Jean-Michel Blais, Lydia Képinski and Pierre Kwenders. New Brunswickers Julie Doiron and Cedric Noel are also in the game as well as P’tit Belliveau, from Nova Scotia.
Previous Polaris winners Tanya Tagaq, Haviah Mighty and Backxwash are each on the list with their latest albums.
The Polaris Music Prize awards $50,000 to the artist or group who created the best Canadian album of the previous year — regardless of genre or sales — chosen by a panel of journalists, broadcasters and bloggers.
Last year, the award went to hip-hop artist Cadence Weapon for Parallel Worldhis poetic reflection largely inspired by the George Floyd protests in 2020.
The long list was selected from 223 albums that made the first votes.
The winner of Polaris will be announced September 19 at a gala at the Carlu in Toronto and webcast on CBC Music. The others selected from the shortlist each receive $3,000.