Short list came out today for the finalists of the Polaris Music Prize.
The 10 nominees are, in alphabetical order:
Elliott BROOD – Mountain Meadows (Toronto, ON)
Fucked Up – The Chemistry Of Common Life (Toronto, ON)
Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels (Toronto, ON)
Hey Rosetta! – Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood) (St. John’s, NF)
K’NAAN – Troubadour (Toronto, ON)
Malajube – Labyrinthes (Montréal, QC)
Metric – Fantasies (Toronto, ON)
Joel Plaskett – Three (Halifax, NS)
Chad VanGaalen – Soft Airplane (Calgary, AB)
Patrick Watson – Wooden Arms (Montréal, QC)
Kind of underwhelming if you ask me. I love Chad Van Gaalen’s new record but I doubt it will win. And why does Patrick Watson get another nod? Polaris seems to be the only group of people that really like him. Malajube’s Labyrinthes and Metric’s Fantasies are both great but not what would you call “experimental” or pushing the boundaries of music. Although beautiful and simply mellow, Great Lake Swimmers need to innovate before I pass out from boredom. View the long list here, how does one deny Leonard Cohen? Either give him everything or don’t put him on the list. The long list had some great records on it.
Polaris…. perhaps starting to lose its caché.
