By Liv Ingram
The Polaris Music Prize Short List was announced Tuesday morning in Toronto by Canadian actor Jay Baruchel — see This Is The End and How to Train Your Dragon — who will also host the awards gala.
The Polaris Music Prize awards the best Canadian album of the year, judged by a panel of journalist, music critics and bloggers. The award is based solely on artistic merit. Forty albums are chosen for the long list before being reduced to 10 finalists.
Due to a miscount in the online voting system this year, the list was adjusted to include Greg MacPherson’s Fireball, bringing the number of nominees to 41.
The Short List was filled with Polaris veterans such as Owen Pallett (In Conflict) who won the inaugural Polaris Prize under the moniker Final Fantasy, along with previous winners Arcade Fire for their fourth studio album (Reflektor).
Other veteran nominees include folk singer-songwriter Basia Bulat (Tall Tall Shadow), folk-blues band Timber Timbre (Hot Dreams), Edmonton’s psychedelic-pop musician Mac Demarco (Salad Days), experimental music and performance art collective Yamantaka // Sonic Titan (UZU).
Grammy Award-winning rapper Drake (Nothing Was The Same) and fellow Torontonian and third-time Short List nominee Shad (Flying Colours) were also nominated.
The Short List was rounded out by first time nominees Jessy Lanza (Pull My Hair Back) and Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq (Animism).
The winner of the Polaris Prize receives $30,000, while the runners-up are awarded $2,000. The winner will be announced Sept. 22 at The Carlu in Toronto following a performance by the nominees.