Arcade Fire, Ron Sexsmith and Destroyer are among the shortlist nominees for Canada’s album of the year Polaris Prize.
CBC Radio 3 host Grant Lawrence and Damian Abraham from 2009 Polaris winners Fucked Up announced this year’s nominees at the Drake Hotel in Toronto.
The nominated albums are: Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs, Austra’s Feel It Break, Braids’ Native Speaker, Destroyer’s Kaputt, Galaxie’s Tiger et Diesel, Hey Rosetta!’s Seeds, Ron Sexsmith’s Long Player Late Bloomer, Colin Stetson’s New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges, Timber Timbre’s Creep On Creepin’ On and The Weeknd’s House of Balloons.
Non-Canadians surely know Arcade Fire and Ron Sexsmith, but there are some other interesting acts in there as well.
There’s been quite a bit of hype for the minimalist R&B by The Weeknd, Austra are feted new wave electro act touring Europe now, art-rockers Braids have been compared to Animal Collective, Hey Rosetta! are from the same school as Arcade Fire’s layer baroque indie pop, and Destroyer have long been loved in alternative circles.
The Polaris Music Prize will be decided upon by a ten-person jury of journalists and broadcasters and will be awarded on September 19.
The winner scores $30,000 and a place in the company of former winners Caribou, Fucked Up, Karkwa, Patrick Wilson and Final Fantasy.
VIDEO: Check out our chat with Canadians Sum 41, who were not nominated for the Polaris Prize, below.
