Edmontonian shortlisted for Polaris Prize.
Veterans vie with newcomers for $30K best Canadian album prize
TORONTO — Edmonton native Mac DeMarco is on the Polaris Prize short list for his album Salad Days
The album is his second for Captured Tracks, an indie label based in Brooklyn, N.Y., where DeMarco now lives.
He and his psychedelic-pop band were in Edmonton June 27 for a performance at the Starlite Room.
DeMarco’s album was one of nine on the on the $30,000 award’s short list announced Tuesday.
Arcade Fire will have a shot at mirroring its Polaris success, as the Montreal band’s sprawling Reflektor again earned it a spot on the short list. The band’s charttopping, Grammy and Juno Award-winning The Suburbs claimed the Polaris back in 2011 — but the decorated rock outfit will face competition this time around from a slew of Polaris vets.
Owen Pallett, who claimed the inaugural prize in 2006 when the Toronto-reared multi-instrumentalist still went by Final Fantasy, is in the running again for his album In Conflict.
Other returnees to the short list include Toronto rapper Drake, whose Nothing Was the Same earned his second shortlisting, Vancouverbased hip-hop artist Shad (now a three-time nominee), Montreal experimental collective Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, dark Toronto blues outfit Timber Timbre and Toronto folk multi-instrumentalist Basia Bulat.
DeMarco, who grew up in Edmonton before starting his music career in Montreal, was also longlisted for the Polaris last year with his debut album, 2.
Only two nominees were true Polaris newcomers. Hamilton singer/songwriter/ producer Jessy Lanza found herself on the short list for the first time for her debut, the ethereal electronic R&B record Pull My Hair Back.
And Nunavut-raised Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq also made her debut entry on the Polaris short list. Though she’s been nominated for two Juno Awards, she earned a new level of mainstream critical regard for her latest album, Animism.
The winner will be named on Sept. 22 at a gala at the Toronto venue Carlu, to be webcast live by Aux.tv. Montreal actor Jay Baruchel — star of This is the End, the How to Train Your Dragon franchise and Knocked Up — was announced Tuesday as host of that ceremony.
The Polaris Music Prize is awarded to the artist who created the best Canadian album of the previous year irrespective of genre or sales, as chosen by a large team of journalists, broadcasters and bloggers.
Other past winners include Feist, Patrick Watson and Karkwa.