The shortlist for the third annual Polaris Music Prize has been unveiled.
The prestigious award, designed to recognize the best Canadian albums each year, will be contested by 10 albums, with the winner taking home a $20,000 check.
The nominations include Black Mountain’s “In the Future;” Basia Bulat’s “Oh, My Darling;” Caribou’s “Andorra”; Kathleen Edwards’ “Asking For Flowers”; the self-titled debut by Holy Fuck; Plants and Animals’ “Parc Avenue;” Shad’s “The Old Prince;” Stars’ “In Our Bedroom After The War;” Two Hours Traffic’s “Little Jabs;” and the Weakerthans’ “Reunion Tour.”
The nominees, which were selected by 178 music journalists, broadcasters and bloggers from across Canada, were applauded by Polaris executive director and founder Steve Jordan.
“With the level of international acclaim for the albums and artists on our long list, we expected, and got, a close battle for the top 10 slots,” Jordan said in a statement. “The result is rich mixture of styles from different regions, which once again points to the seemingly bottomless artistic vitality of Canadian music.”
The Polaris Music Prize 2008 winner will be decided by 11 selected Polaris jurors and announced at an exclusive gala concert event in Toronto at the Phoenix Concert Theatre on Sept. 29.
Previous Polaris winners were Toronto’s Final Fantasy with “He Poos Clouds” in 2006, and Montréal’s Patrick Watson with “Close To Paradise” last year.
