Daniel Caesar, Gord Downie on Polaris long list
Arcade Fire’s disco-rock social project, Everything Now, is up for the Polaris Music Prize.
Rising R&B singer Daniel Caesar’s debut, the latest by Arcade Fire, and a posthumous work from Gord Downie are among the longlisted albums for the Polaris Music Prize.
The juried award for best Canadian album of the year was narrowed down to 40 contenders who could qualify for the short list revealed next month.
Among the projects named is Everything Now, the disco-rock social statement released last year by Arcade Fire, who previously won the Polaris for The Suburbs in 2011.
Caesar’s breakout collection of slow jams, Freudian, joins other albums that made an impact, including Downie’s Introduce Yerself, a series of love letters written by the Tragically Hip frontman to his friends shortly before he died of brain cancer.
Several indie darlings also made the long list, among them Toronto dream pop band Alvvays with Antisocialites, as well as Bahamas for the album Earthtones and Charlotte Day Wilson with Stone Woman.
The Polaris jury also selected a number of concept albums from Indigenous artists.
Jeremy Dutcher’s Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa melds the operatic tenor’s voice with century-old recordings of people speaking the Wolastoq language, while The Average Savage from hip-hop duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids is a staunch rejection of racism and stereotypes levelled against residential communities.
The Polaris Music Prize is awarded to the artist or group that created the best Canadian album of the previous year.
A short list of contenders will be revealed on July 17.