Moneyballing the Polaris longlist 2021

Well, this is quite the list. It's wild. I love it. 

I would understand if you don't: there are only two "names" on the list of 40 that most people who don't work in the music industry will recognize (Daniel Lanois, Kathleen Edwards). There's only about eight others that might register (Tobi, Weather Station, Mustafa, Art Bergmann, Charlotte Cardin and previous shortlisters Cadence Weapon, Besnard Lakes and Dominique Fils-Aime). That leaves (at least) 30 underdogs. This field is wiiiiiide open. 

(UPDATED) No one in the Polaris Hall of Fame is on this longlist (nor were they eligible this year). But Cadence Weapon now enters with his fifth nomination (including two shortlists). The Besnard Lakes now have four appearances, with two shortlist nods and two longlist nods. 

Current Hall of Fame stats:

6: Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Operators (2 shortlists, 4 longlists)

5: Drake (3 shortlists, 2 longlists); Joel Plaskett (2 shortlists, 3 longlists); New Pornographers (2 shortlists, 3 longlists); Cadence Weapon (2 shortlists, 3 longlists); the Weeknd (1 shortlist, 4 longlists); Tom Wilson of Lee Harvey Osmond and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (5 longlists)

4: Caribou (winner, 3 shortlists); Owen Pallett (winner, 2 shortlists, 1 longlist); Shad (4 shortlists--a record); Patrick Watson (winner, 1 shortlist, 2 longlists); Basia Bulat (2 shortlists, 2 longlists); BadBadNotGood (2 shortlists, 2 longlists); Besnard Lakes (2 shortlists, 2 longlists); Daniel Romano (4 longlists)

Take the rest of this post with several grains of salt; I'm deep in another project and don't have a lot of time to get too far in the weeds here. Corrections are welcome.

The 2021 list is full of new blood, even with 68-year-old Art Bergmann on there: from what I can tell, 26 artists here have never been on a long list before. 

24 are either female, female-fronted, or non-binary.

From what I know, five are Western Canadian (Art Bergmann, Sargent X Comrade, Vagina Witchcraft; Yu Su; the trio of Shabason, Krgovich and Harris are two-thirds Vancouver). I don't think Cadence Weapon identifies as Western Canadian anymore, seeing how he's writing to his MPP and roasting Toronto mayor John Tory. (UPDATE: the rapper messaged me to say that he's "Edmonton for life.")

I don't see any Atlantic Canadians here, other than those backing up Toronto artist Fiver. Montrealer Russell Louder grew up in P.E.I.

15 artists are from Quebec; one of those is from a remote community north of Quebec City (Laura Niquay). Three are francophone (Sagot, Klo Pelgag, Thierry Larose); Charlotte Cardin has sung in both English and French, though her 2021 album Phoenix is largely in English.

Allison Russell, formerly of Po' Girl and Birds of Chicago, was born in Montreal, lived in Vancouver and Chicago, and now lives in Nashville. Daniel Lanois is living in Toronto these days, though he has a place in L.A.--which is where Torontonian Rochelle Jordan lives now. 

That leaves a whole lot of Ontario on the list. Which is fine by me, if you look at the diversity of people and sounds: the Indigenous electronic music of Zoon, the anthemic pop of Nyssa, the stunning modern balladry of Mustafa, the punk of OBGMs, the gorgeous roots music of Julian Taylor, the new-school hip-hop of DijahSB, the nerdcore art folk of Bernice.

From what I can tell, more than half (22) of the longlisters are racialized minorities; four of those are Indigenous.

Aggressive music is usually marginalized. This year there are two incredibly heavy records by Montreal's Big Brave and the Winnipeg band with the best name on the entire list: Vagina Witchcraft. 

There's more instrumental electronic music than usual: CFCF, Zoon, Yu Su. I didn't really see any of those coming, but that's just me. The Shabason/Krgovich/Harris album is not instrumental, though it certainly taps some Eno/Hassell vibes, and was accompanied by a full-length instrumental version. 

Coupled with those polarities are the more folk-festival sounds of Julian Taylor, Allison Russell, Dominique Fils-Aime and Mustafa.

Shout out to the 40+ crowd for hanging in there: LAL (second longlist in a row), Julian Taylor (who just had his best year ever), Art Bergmann (Order of Canada), Kathleen Edwards (this makes up for the Juno snub), Daniel Lanois (career best), and dark horses the Besnard Lakes. I'm guessing the youthful Allison Russell is over 40; she was in Po' Girl 20 years ago. I have no idea how old Sagot is; he's always sounded at least 70 (glad he's finally getting some overdue Polaris recognition). 

Shout out also to the influence of Jane Siberry, whom I've been thinking about a lot while listening to Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Bernice, Thanya Iyer, and Helena Deland. 

And much love to eight great records I've been listening a lot that didn't make the list:

C. Diab - White Whale

Alias Ensemble - s/t 

Greg Keelor - Share the Love

Serena Ryder - The Art of Falling Apart

Fly Pan Am - Frontera

Vanille - Soleil '96 

The Garrys - Häxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (Original Score)

Jennifer Castle - Monarch Season

My totally random guess for the ten spots on the shortlist? I'm not going to do that, other than to place money on Mustafa. The other nine? I have no idea. 

Short list is announced July 15.

In other news, goddammit I miss music festivals, the kind where I could see all of these artists this summer. 

My personal Polaris 2020 long list part 4

Day four!

Recap: I cast my ballot for the Polaris Prize this week. Jurors only get five slots. Almost 200 albums were suggested by fellow jury members. A long list of 40 will be published next week. As always, there’s no shortage of excellent Canadian music. But this year there’s no one album—or even three—that I feel so obviously tower above the rest. Which makes the winnowing even more difficult.

I’m not going to tell you what’s on my ballot, but these are the 40 records I considered (10 in each post). Most of these have been discussed by the Polaris jury at some point, but this is a very personal list that no one should read into deeply. Many of these will likely not make the long list, and many not mentioned here most definitely will.

Final caveat: I’m a 48yo anglo white dad who lives in Toronto with all the obvious blind spots that entails, so prepare yourself with as many grains of salt you feel are required.

Part 4/4: 

Owen Pallett – Island: This long-delayed album came out two weeks before the Polaris deadline, and yet I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see it become one of the most-discussed albums this year. And not just because the first single (with its excellent accompanying video) contains this lyric: "Do not be scared / Surely some disaster will descend and equalize us / a crisis / Will unify the godless and the fearless and the righteous.” Though as lushly orchestrated as much of his work, these songs are centred around acoustic guitar, marking a new(ish) direction for Pallett: very little evidence of his violin-virtuoso past, few of the electronics that shaped 2014’s In Conflict, the orchestration never draws attention to itself, the music rich with subtleties and no concessions at all to pop audiences (usually Pallett would throw a bone or two). This sounds like Pallett’s most musically personal album; it also features the loveliest vocals he’s ever put to tape. For day-one fans, it’s as much a mature, one-man version of Les Mouches as it is a Final Fantasy record. Bandcamp link here.

Pantayo – s/t: Now here’s something you haven’t heard before: a group of Filipinas integrating traditional percussion (kulintang) with R&B and pop that lies somewhere between ESG, Massive Attack and Solange. Yes, the novelty is part of the appeal, and that will help this land on the long list and go possibly much further this Polaris season. But, like Tagaq or Jeremy Dutcher’s work, this is far from mere novelty: it’s an incredibly strong record: the grooves, the vocals, the songs, the sonic textures, the production by Alaska B (Yamantaka // Sonic Titan). Pantayo didn’t start out like this; when I saw them perform at a Long Winter event several years ago, it was definitely more on the traditional side. Now, “V V V (They Lie)” and “Desire” are total radio summer jams, uptempo and down, respectively. There’s even, it seems, some ’80s new wave in the mix here, but that could just the Scarborough boy in me being brought back to a time when I would have first heard traditional Filipino music at high school talent shows 30 years ago and now I’m weirdly conflating a bunch of my own memories in what is apparently a record review. Anyway, this is going to be the record that will make the list and have industry veterans wondering, “Where the hell did this come from?” Bandcamp link here.

Lido Pimienta – Miss Colombia: Is it okay to say now that I didn’t like Pimienta’s 2017 Polaris winner La Papessa? That was a milestone win for many reasons (first allophone winner, entirely indie release), but I still heard a nascent artist who had yet to fully bloom. The conversation around the win—and the way Pimienta dealt with an onslaught of hateful criticism—was more worthy than the album itself, in this random white guy’s opinion, FWIW (not much). The Toronto artist took a lot of time and care following it up, and now we can talk about the music again. Everything has stepped up, starting with Pimienta’s own vocals: they’re stronger, express more dynamics and inflection, and generally more emotionally resonant. That’s true of the electronics as well; she’s said part of her challenge here was to make the technology sound beautiful, and she succeeded. The brass arrangements throughout are also a nice touch. Prince Nifty, a.k.a. Owen Pallett collaborator Matt Smith, co-produces here (check out his lovely new solo release), and guests include Colombian palenque group Sexteto Tabala (the collab here will sound familiar to any fans of Caribbean-Colombian legend Toto La Momposina) and South American superstar Li Saumet of electro-cumbia-pop band Bomba Estereo. One could argue that Pimienta won the Polaris prematurely, but if she hadn’t, then this superior record would likely not be getting an international release; its ambition might not even have been possible. Bandcamp link here.

Slow Leaves – Shelf Life: It’s not like critics are stumbling over themselves in a hunt for the new Lightfoot in 2020. But hey, FWIW, Slow Leaves is likely the new Lightfoot, or at least the most worthy contender since Doug Paisley dropped the 2011 classic Constant Companion. Davidson sings with a gentle lilt and affecting tremolo, his breezy folk rock designed to be played on crackly vinyl or around a campfire. Davidson sounds like a middle-aged dad, which he is, and this is an ideal midlife rainy day record when accompanied by coffee and/or scotch. It’s not new or dark or sexy; it’s just life. Hard to make that sound exciting in a record review. But hey, if the likes of Leif Vollebekk can crack the shortlist, surely Slow Leaves can. Bandcamp link here.

Rae Spoon – Mental Health: This artist has had quite a rollercoaster two years: they continue to run the best truly indie label in Canada (Coax Records) and they released two of the best albums of their career (including this one). But shortly after cancelling a tour due to the pandemic the non-binary artist announced they were diagnosed with cancer before even turning 40. Rae Spoon’s music has always been about resilience, which means in 2020 an album like Mental Health strikes particularly potent chords. As a former folk country artist who now makes what could be called electro-tinged indie rock, Spoon is first and foremost a classic pop songwriter: their songs are full of earworms, no matter the arrangements underneath. Lyrically, this record taps into the anxiety age with precision, which makes it essential listening. Bandcamp link here.

Storry – CH III: The Come Up: The back story behind this record is fascinating, terrifying, tragic, and a whole other tale unto itself (read Nick Krewen’s profile here). But the short on Storry is that this debut album (don’t let the CH III title fool you) is about her past life as a sex worker after an opera career went astray. She turns her classically trained voice to gutsy and jazzy R&B with some ace players behind her. The slick veneer might be suited to upscale jazz clubs, but the narratives pull no punches. Even if there wasn’t a back-Storry here (sorry), the woman’s voice is enough of a draw on its own. Ain’t no AutoTune here, she belongs on a stage. Won’t even need a microphone.

US Girls – Heavy Light: It’s weird to think of Meg Remy as a Polaris veteran, but this is likely to be her third appearance on a shortlist and another likely winner—I thought she’d take it for 2018’s In a Poem Unlimited, my favourite record that year. Heavy Light picks up where that record left off, and, inspired by her 2018 Polaris performance, features a strong vocal presence from backing singers including arranger Kritty Uranowksi, James Baley (remember that name), and Basia Bulat. E Street saxophonist Jake Clemons also shows up, as do members of Arcade Fire and Ice Cream. The album was recorded largely live in Montreal by Howard Bilerman, and the electric energy is evident. Hard to go wrong with that many all-stars on board, and Remy rises to every challenge: she’s one of the most astute and fascinating lyricists working today, set to beautiful melodies steeped in the history of pop music. Part of this album’s success is due to Remy’s generous and collaborative spirit: she’s not precious about empowering her collaborators, working with co-writers (including Bulat), or even revisiting earlier material from her lo-fi solo days (“Overtime” and “Red Ford Radio” are highlights here). Everything about this exudes empathy and community, which is exactly what we need right now.  

Whoop-Szo – Warrior Down: I’m a lightweight when it comes to heavy music, which makes Whoop-Szo all the more surprising. This is stoner sludgy grunge that packs a wallop, even more so when Adam Sturgeon sings about his family’s experience in residential schools or a cousin being shot by cops in Saskatchewan (The chorus “Warrior down in a Saskatchewan town” says so much with six words, a Neil Young-esque simplicity all political songwriters should study). But this isn’t just a Sabbathian sonic anvil; this band started out as a considerably more experimental project, and there are more delicate moments here and prog diversions and deliciously dirty synth interludes and piano instrumentals. I don’t know who London, Ontario engineer Kyle Ashbourne is, but he’s heavy as fuck when he wants to be, with a Blurtonian touch that serves this material extremely well. Watch out for Whoop-Szo: at least one more record like this and they could turn into the most important rock band in Canada. Bandcamp link here.

Witch Prophet – DNA Activation: I certainly didn’t hear any other Canadian record like this in the last year: Habesha hip-hop beats with an Afrofuturist bent and jazzy saxophone (Karen Ng) throughout. Fans of Erykah Badu’s work with Georgia Anne Muldrow will find a lot to love here. This is hypnotic, healing music for humid days, during days when these lyrics strike deep: “Where do we go from here / When the whole world is falling / Through darkness / And we cannot see the light.” The woman known as Witch Prophet brings that light. Bandcamp link here.

Wolf Parade – Thin Mind: All great bands who feel like they’re hitting a wall should take a seven-year break. It did wonders for Wolf Parade. Both 2017’s Cry Cry Cry and now Thin Mind take everything that was ever intriguing about this group of musicians—as players and songwriters—and amplify all their strengths. Rare is the rock band that actually gets better with age, but this new chapter of Wolf Parade is the prime of their career, and Pacific Northwest star producer John Goodmanson captures it perfectly. Other than the obvious strengths of frontmen Dan Boeckner and Spencer Krug, the MVP here is drummer Arlen Thompson, who gives the material a real swing and swagger. Fuck nostalgia, forge the future. Bandcamp link here.

I’ll feel extremely lucky if even half of those 40 records make the longlist.

These next ones are not my bag, but here are 15 artists whose albums are likely to be longlisted, so give them a listen if you haven't already: 

Marie-Pierre Arthur

Backxwash

Daniel Caesar

Dvsn 

Grimes

Flore Laurentienne

Men I Trust

Nap Eyes

Nehiyawak

William Prince

Jessie Reyez

Andy Shauf

Super Duty Tough Work 

Wares

The Weeknd

The official long list will be announced on Monday June 15.

Jurors will then have a chance to submit their shortlist ballot; the shortlist will be announced July 15, and the winner on Sept. 21.

Happy listening! Buy the music you love! 

 

My personal Polaris longlist 2020 part 2

Day Two!

Recap: I cast my ballot for the Polaris Prize this week. Jurors only get five slots. Almost 200 albums were suggested by fellow jury members. A long list of 40 will be published next week. As always, there’s no shortage of excellent Canadian music. But this year there’s no one album—or even three—that I feel so obviously tower above the rest. Which makes the winnowing even more difficult.

I’m not going to tell you what’s on my ballot, but these are the 40 records I considered. Most of these have been discussed by the Polaris jury at some point, but this is a very personal list that no one should read into deeply. Many of these will likely not make the long list, and many not mentioned here most definitely will.

Final caveat: I’m a 48yo anglo white dad who lives in Toronto with all the obvious blind spots that entails, so take all this with as many grains of salt you feel are required.

Part 2/4:

The Dears – Lovers Rock: This band has been making anxiety-ridden apocalyptic prog-rock for 20 years now, so the fact they’re releasing their best record in years right now is sheer coincidence. Older, wiser, and with their grand ambitions tempered with humility and grace, the Dears easily conjure the fireworks of their finest hours—“The Worst in Us” is vintage Dears, and would be a highlight on any earlier record—while balancing the bombast with breezier fare like “Play Dead” and “Is This What You Really Want,” both of which wouldn’t have been out of place on singer Murray Lightburn’s excellent 2019 solo album. Bandcamp link here.

Frazey Ford – U Kin B the Sun: Words will always fail to describe Frazey Ford’s voice, probably because she fails to enunciate most of her words in the first place. Such is the magic and mystery that this soulful singer brings to everything she does, whether it was the folk revivalism of the Be Good Tanyas 20 years ago or the soul music she immerses herself in here. This is not exactly retro R&B, but it is a solid live band with a Hammond organ (or imitation) hovering over the bass-heavy grooves and gospel-tinged backing vocals. She’s a devoted D’Angelo fan, and her last record used the same band Cat Power did on The Greatest; Ford brings her own hippie B.C. vibe to the genre. She’s not in this game to win; she can take or leave the music business, as she’s proved over the years while moving at her own pace. The music she makes is for healing, for uplift, for the spirit. Which is all well and good and inspiring, but the songs she brings to the table this time, and the players she gathered to perform it, that elevate this far beyond mere good intentions. It’s the balm. Bandcamp link here.

Fountain – Laughing Through Traffic: Holy shit, this came out of nowhere (look ’em up, and you’ll find next to no press at all, so shout out to CJLO’s Francella Fiallos for tipping the jury to this). This is a Beefheartian Montreal band with incredible chemistry despite sounding like they’re being pulled in at least three different directions at once. There are elements here of everyone from Television to Old Time Relijun to recent Polaris faves Fet.Nat, with a singer possessed of the necessary sardonicism to sell the sizzle (“On an art deco gecko all I drink is prosecco / that’s not healthy!”). One of many contenders this year that I wish I could see live, though this recording has raw energy to burn. Bandcamp link here.

Dana Gavanski – Yesterday is Gone: No wonder this odd little record is so fascinating: it was born in Vancouver, Montreal, the Laurentians, Banff, Toronto, and Serbia. Gavanski packs a lot of work, discipline and experience into her debut album, which fits into a lineage that spans Nico to Aldous Harding (and FWIW I’m not a fan of the latter). It’s unassuming at first, with subtle arrangements and Gavanski’s deadpan voice somewhat off-putting. But the intimacy and delicacy of the instrumentation ultimately draw you in; every tiny production decision here is very particular and deliberate, creating a world you want to inhabit on a lazy afternoon. Fans of Jennifer Castle should be paying attention. Bandcamp link here.

Golden Seals – Something Isn’t Happening: Dave Merritt lives outside Ottawa and puts out new music of an old-fashioned vein about every six years or so, which means this record had zero push behind it other than Merritt’s always entertaining online presence. He’s the kind of 50-year-old guy with Beatles deep in his blood and a whole lotta Nick Lowe and Aimee Mann on his shelf, and has likely had a Mojo subscription for the last 20 years. All that pop scholarship pays off here, which not only has Sexsmithian melodies and jazz chords, but the production here is much more vivid than one would ever expect from a home recording—even the track he recorded as a phone memo sparkles. (Local Ontario heroes Andy Magoffin and Philip Shaw Bova shared mixing duties; both do great work, as always.) There’s tightly wound nuggets of pop perfection on tracks like “Independence Day,” “Idiot Kid” and “The Opposite End of the Country,” but he gets pleasantly unspooled on the closer “The Takeaway.” This is old fart music par excellence. Don’t hold that against him. Bandcamp link here. Zunior link here.

Jacques Greene – Dawn Chorus: I’ll admit that full-length techno records are not my bag, but Greene’s 2017 release Feel Infinite was intriguing, as was his work on Cadence Weapon’s excellent 2018 self-titled album. That rapper turns up to return a favour here, joining electronic artist Julianna Barwick, film composer Brian Reitzell, hip-hop producer Clams Casino, and underrated Toronto singer Rochelle Jordan. The result is a late-night cinematic journey with character and depth, recalling early 90s rave (yes, Moby) records in the best possible ways. Does that musical era sound retro now? I have no idea. But this record sounds great today, illuminating empty urban landscapes with memories of what once was. Bandcamp link here.

Sarah Harmer – Are You Gone: The master is back. It’s been 10 years since we last heard from her, and she’ll tell you this is her best record yet. Strong words: it’s hard to top the untouchable You Were Here or I’m a Mountain. But this comeback is full of timeless gems, not the least of which is “Just Get Here” and “St. Peter’s Bay.” And dammit, “New Low” is exactly the political pop song we needed in 2020; I only wish she turned up the guitars on that one in order to match the lyrical bite. Ah well, maybe Billy Talent will cover it. Bandcamp link here.

Kevin Hearn – Calm and Cents: He’s one of this country’s MVPs (Barenaked Ladies, Lou Reed, Gord Downie, Rheostatics) but Hearn’s solo records are criminally underappreciated (see: 2014’s Days in Frames). This one is largely instrumental and absolutely lovely. Featuring longtime bassist Chris Gartner, drummer Gavin Brown and violinist Hugh Marsh, this is a meditative and melodic record about environmental decay, in which Hearn’s delicate piano is balanced with ambient electronics, Vocoders, and very subtle reggae influences underneath the sci-fi surface.

Ice Cream – Fed Up: This record sounds like 1999. The year of Peaches and Le Tigre. The sound of Prince’s classic album 1999. But in 2020, Ice Cream are two Toronto women who deliver dual-lead electric guitar over electro beats and catchy pop songs (“Peanut Butter,” “Banana Split”). There’s plenty of darker material here, as well (the title track, “Dove’s Cry”). These women are killer singers and players—which is why they’ve been drawn into the U.S. Girls universe (Carlyn Bezic was playing in the current lineup; both she and fellow Ice Creamer Amanda Crist play with Meg Remy in the band Darlene Shrugg.) If Fifth Column were around today, they’d sound a lot like Ice Cream. Bandcamp link here.

Junia T – Studio Monk: This is a winner on so many levels. For starters, Junia T steps to the forefront after being Jessie Reyez’s tour DJ for the last few years to craft this masterful collection of grooves built from the bottom up with live musicians and engineer Slakah the Beatchild. It took him two years, a time during which the MC decided to put down the mic to focus on the music, and invite an array of mostly Toronto talent to shine in his stead. So not only is this a solid, jazzy hip-hop and R&B record with a rich vintage sound (and by vintage I mean not only 70s soul, but there’s a particular late 90s vibe here), it also functions as a mixtape with all-stars like Reyez, Sean Leon, and River Tiber, but relatively unknown singers Storry and Faiza, as well as highly underrated Toronto vet Adam Bomb. Sometimes this much talent on one record means a lot of compromise and mush, but every single artist here brings their A-game. (Well, maybe not Nate Husser.) If at least one hip-hop record makes the shortlist this year, this is going to be it. 

My personal Polaris longlist 2020 part 1

I cast my ballot for the Polaris Prize this week. Jurors only get five slots. Almost 200 albums were suggested by fellow jury members. A long list of 40 will be published next week. As always, there’s no shortage of excellent Canadian music. But this year there’s no one album—or even three—that I feel so obviously tower above the rest. Which makes the winnowing even more difficult.

I’m not going to tell you what’s on my ballot, but these are the 40 records I considered (10 in each post). Most of these have been discussed by the Polaris jury at some point, but this is a very personal list that no one should read into deeply. Many of these will likely not make the long list, and many not mentioned here most definitely will.

Final caveat: I’m a 48yo anglo white dad who lives in Toronto with all the obvious blind spots that entails, so take all this with as many grains of salt you feel are required.

Day One (of four):

Allie X – Cape God: This is a really smart, well-arranged pop record, in the realm of a more operatic Maggie Rogers. It pushes all the buttons for me that Carly Rae Jepsen should but never does. Allie X is a pop star without a radio audience of her own; she writes for BTS, Katy Perry’s a fan, and she’s been slogging it out for a while, to the point where she has more than a million streams (which is more than some Canadian acts who fill arenas). But this album is where Allie X’s classical training and craftsmanship really come to the fore. Ideally, she’d be a household name by now; in the days of Kate Bush, maybe she would have been.

Begonia – Fear: If you’ve ever seen this woman live, you know she’s a superstar. Her debut record catches most, though not all, the charisma she exudes on stage. Her voice is enormous, a powerful instrument that threatens to overshadow everything underneath it. But the production—by a team that includes her longtime collaborators in Royal Canoe—holds its own and provides some interesting twists to the modern pop/R&B universe. Bandcamp link here.

Geoff Berner – The Grand Hotel Cosmopolis: One of the greatest songwriters in Canada is a radical eco-socialist who plays accordion, sings increasingly in Yiddish, and gathers some of the finest modern klezmer players around him. So: not primarily Polaris bait, unfortunately. This timely record is largely about the plight of the displaced, though also features a scathing take on survivalists and a song that Berner had hoped to one day play at Bernie Sanders rallies: “Why Don’t We Take All the Billionaires’ Money Away?” If that’s not the song of the year, I don’t know what is. Bandcamp link here.

Bon Enfant – s/t: This is the single biggest surprise for me this Polaris season. This psych-pop band is the Quebecois equivalent of Japan’s Kikagayu Moyo or Holland’s Altin Gun, meaning they’re a peculiar regional blend of local influences with groove-heavy psychedelia. Their debut album sounds like Black Mountain joining Plants and Animals to cover the Hair soundtrack, with a McGarrigle singing en francais. This record came out in the fall of 2019, which is too bad because it is so obviously the sound of springtime and we should all be dancing in Parc Lafontaine to this. We’re not, for so many reasons, which makes this an escapist listening experience more than anything right now. I’m feeling nostalgic for joy these days, and this record helps a helluva lot. Bandcamp link here.

Boniface – s/t: Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs is 10 years old this year. Micah Visser was 13 when it came out, and one suspects it made a deep impression. Visser, who had a few years performing under his own name before rebranding himself after his Winnipeg neighbourhood and releasing the debut Boniface album on Valentine’s Day this year. He shares with Win Butler a bittersweet melancholy for a suburban youth with ’80s alternative anthems—though in Visser’s case, probably some Robyn, Killers, and Tegan and Sara in the next-gen mix. (Don’t doubt that the ’80s are present, however—check out the album cover and font). The production is big enough to vault him on to Euro festival stages, but it’s the songwriting that really shines here, and the moments (“I Will Not Return as a Tourist”) where he sounds like he’s writing a shiny pop version of “Born to Run” for a 2020 Pride celebration. Bandcamp link here.

Bruce Peninsula – No Earthly Sound: One of my greatest musical regrets of this time is that I won’t be able to witness this band and its vital chorus of voices live any time soon. This Toronto group has been away for most of the last decade; I didn’t expect them to return. They’re a record nerds’ dream, with grooves that borrow from Afrobeat and jazzy Chicago post-rock underneath what sound like modern choral field hollers. Neil Haverty and Misha Bower trade lead vocals, but it’s the chorus behind them—a choir that once included many of Toronto’s best singers, including Snowblink, Austra and the Weather Station—that really elevates the material. The rhythm section also kicks much ass. This is a much slicker production than heard on their first two records, which suits them surprisingly well, while the raw energy still shines through. Welcome back, beautiful people. Hope to see you on a stage again some day. Bandcamp link here.

Caribou – Suddenly: Dan Snaith continues to not only improve, but to remain unique in his field. I’m hard pressed to think of another electronic artist with this breadth of material in one album, from beat-less ballads to R&B pop songs to psychedelic jazz loops to early 90s house. Less rigid than his last record, this is Snaith’s most soulful and encompassing records of his long career. Suddenly is like his own greatest hits collection. He’s one of five previous winners (Lido Pimienta, Kaytranada, Patrick Watson, Owen Pallett) with new records in this year’s eligibility period; I would not be surprised if he became the first repeat winner in Polaris history. Bandcamp link here.

Leonard Cohen – Thanks for the Dance: “Who’s moving on? Who’s kidding who?” Posthumous records deserve the bad rep they have, but this is a phenomenal exception. Son Adam Cohen proved his production mettle on You Want It Darker, and here he fleshes out his father’s final recordings, which the artist had every intention of finishing before his passing. Adam invites more guests (Daniel Lanois, Feist, Patrick Watson) and fewer chintzy synths than Cohen Sr. would ever allow. None of it sounds like something the artist wouldn’t ultimately have approved; it doesn’t tread on his well-worn template. It’s hard to top You Want It Darker, and this doesn’t—but this unexpected encore is a career coda that’s not only fitting, but entirely satisfying.

Jean-Louis Cormier – Quand la nuit tombe: Cormier won a Polaris 10 years ago with his band Karkwa, which was greeted by a collective “meh” from English Canada. But he’s making much, much more interesting music now. Recorded in L.A., Berlin and Ethiopia, Cormier ditches his guitar for keys and synths, creating a fascinating melange that draws from ’60s film soundtracks, post-Radiohead rock, Gorillaz-style global pop and more, with an unusually good drummer at the core. There are lots of twists and turns on this record, and most of them work wonderfully (the brief rap interlude, not so much). Between this and Julien Sagot’s wonderfully weird records, Karkwa’s solo projects sound better to me than the original band. Bandcamp link here.

Corridor – Junior. The third album by the first franco Quebecois band signed to Sub Pop, Junior is a rollicking, rockin’ good time of a post-punk new wave record that pulls from the Jam, early R.E.M., the fuzzier side of Sloan, and the hazier side of the Stone Roses. The rhythm section is consistently propulsive, the boy harmonies are exquisite, and the guitars pop, ring and jangle and all those other ridiculous adjectives that I no longer know how to use and probably never did. Have Corridor toured with Alvvays yet? That would be dreamy. This is yet another franco record that the anglo indie kids should be snapping up. Bandcamp link here.

Polaris Music Prize 2019 long list

Here’s your 2019 Polaris Music Prize long list, with my breakdown of it below. For those keeping track, I called 28/40. Always nice to see some surprises.

Tim Baker – Forever Overhead

Tanika Charles – The Gumption

Clairmont the Second – Do You Drive?

Charlotte Cornfield – The Shape of Your Name

Marie Davidson – Working Class Woman

Dilly Dally – Heaven

The Dirty Nil – Master Volume

Dizzy – Baby Teeth

Elisapie – The Ballad of the Runaway Girl

Fet.Nat – Le Mal

Dominique Fils-Aimé – Stay Tuned

Fucked Up – Dose Your Dreams

Yves Jarvis – The Same But By Different Means

Carly Rae Jepsen – Dedicated

Kaia Kater – Grenades

Kimmortal – X Marks the Swirl

La Force – s/t

LAL – Dark Beings

Laurence-Anne – Premiere Apparition

Salome Leclerc – Les choses exterieures

Lee Harvey Osmond – Mohawk

Jean Leloup – L’étrange pays

Shay Lia – Dangerous EP

Les Louanges – Le nuit est une panthere

Loud – Tout ça pour ça

Shawn Mendes – s/t

Haviah Mighty – 13^th Floor

Operators – Radiant Dawn

Orville Peck – Pony

Sandro Perri – In Another Life

Pup – Morbid Stuff

Lee Reed – The Steal City EP

Jesse Reyez – Being Human in Public EP

Shad – A Short Story About War

Snotty Nose Rez Kids – Trapline

Alexandra Stréliski – Inscape

Sydanie – 999

Tobi – Still

Voivod – The Wake

Wintersleep – In the Land Of

Familiarity factor:

The list is almost exactly half new faces, half old faces.

Debut records: 7 (Dizzy, Laurence-Anne, Les Louanges, Haviah Mighty, Orville Peck, Sydanie, Tobi)

First time on a Polaris list (not counting debuts): 13.

Congrats, Voivod! But especially LAL, who’ve existed largely on the margins of even their hometown of Toronto for 20 years now.

Previous winners: 1 (Fucked Up)

Previous shortlisters: 4 (Carly Rae Jepsen, Pup, Shad, Snotty Nose Rez Kids)

I’d say that this year’s shortlist could well include those five very familiar names.

Shortlist-esque: Tim Baker (as member of Hey Rosetta) and Operators (Dan Boeckner with Handsome Furs and Wolf Parade)

Previous longlisters: 14 (includes La Force’s Ariel Engle, as member of AroarA)

Demographics:

Female solo or female-fronted: 19

Male-fronted acts with female instrumentalists who don’t sing: 3 (Fucked Up, Lee Harvey Osmond, Operators, Snotty Nose Rez Kids)

Indigenous-identifying acts: 3 (Elisapie, Lee Harvey Osmond, Snotty Nose Rez Kids)

Acts we’ll refer to as “new Canada”: 13

Francophones: 5 (plus instrumental artist Alexandra Stréliski)

Allophones: 0.25 (some songs on the Elisapie record)

Geezers: LAL, Jean Leloup, Lee Harvey Osmond, Voivod

Getting up there: Fucked Up, Operators, Sandro Perri, Lee Reed, Shad

Genre:

Music roughly defined as pop/rock/indie rock: 14

Hiphop: 8 (this might be a record)

Aggressive: 5 (Dilly Dally, The Dirty Nil, Fucked Up, Pup, Voivod)

R&B: 3 (Tanika Charles, Dominique Fils-Aimé, Shay Lia)

Folk-ish: 4 (Charlotte Cornfield, Kaia Kater, this particular Jean Leloup record, Lee Harvey Osmond)

Country-esque: 1 (Orville Peck, but not really)

Electro: 2 (Marie Davidson, LAL)

Chart pop: 2 (Carly Rae Jepsen, Shawn Mendes)

Music that CBC Music will have considerable difficulty programming: 17

Geography:

As always, assume that about half the acts from Toronto and Montreal originally hail from somewhere else (i.e. Calgarian Yves Jarvis, whose career has been based in Montreal). Also: I have no idea where Shad lives these days. Is he back in Vancouver? I put him in Toronto.

Toronto: 14

Montreal: 14

Vancouver: 3 (Carly Rae Jepsen, Kimmortal, Snotty Nose Rez Kids)

Hamilton: 3 (The Dirty Nil, Lee Harvey Osmond, Lee Reed)

Brampton: 2 (Haviah Mighty, Jesse Reyez)

Oshawa: 1 (Shawn Mendes)

Ottawa/Gatineau: 1 (Fet.Nat)

Halifax: 1 (Wintersleep)

St. John’s: 1 (Tim Baker)

I did not expect to see these 10 on the shortlist:

Charlotte Cornfield. This record has a lot of love on the jury (obviously), but I wasn’t sure this Toronto songwriter (and club booker) would be able to reach beyond her city limits.

Dilly Dally. This band is not on my radar, musically. More power to them for that.

Dizzy. This band is also not on my radar. Partly because I confuse them with Dilly Dally, for reasons that have everything to do with spelling and nothing to do with music. 

The Dirty Nil. I do not get this band at all. Nice shirts, though.

LAL. This duo have been underdogs for so long that I never thought they’d be on a Polaris list. But the latest record got them some incredible reviews, including from younger jurors who might not even know the legacy.

Jean Leloup. The man is a legend, and his last album should have shortlisted (rumour has it that it missed out by a single ballot). But this album appeared a week before this year’s voting deadline, and I wasn’t sure enough jurors from either franco or anglo pools would have time to rally around it, especially because it’s an understated acoustic record.

Shay Lia. This woman has had a good buzz since appearing on Kaytranada’s Polaris-winning album a while back, but I wasn’t sure if this EP would vault her onto the list on her own.

Shawn Mendes. In the category of “it’s so popular that it’s a dark horse,” this chart-topping record garnered some last-minute discussions among jurors, one of whom admitted that this was the one album they listened to the most in the last 12 months, and others (like me) had to admit that they’d come around to its charms. Jim Di Gioia of Dominionated wrote a great piece about poptimist prejudice against male pop stars, who are not afforded the same benefit of the doubt that the likes of Carly Rae Jepsen are among critics.

Operators. Dan Boeckner’s output carries a lot of weight with Polaris jurors, which is why I was shocked that Operators’ debut album didn’t make the long list a couple of years ago. I wondered if jury turnover meant that this new one would miss out as well, so consider this a comeback. (Even though I prefer that neglected debut.)

Sandro Perri. Perri is much beloved among the more experimentally minded corners of the Polaris jury, and this four-song album contains one 23-minute track and three variations on a theme. I wasn’t sure that would break through all the noise, but I’m glad it did.

Lee Reed. This veteran Hamilton MC, who started out with a politically charged, live funk band called Warsawpack in the early 2000s, proves that Snotty Nose Rez Kids are not the only anarcho-punk hip-hop act cranking out future classics.

Tobi. This debut is a lovely R&B record that I discovered late in the Polaris cycle, and I hope it finds many more ears after landing on the long list.

Wintersleep. These veterans have never caught the ear of Polaris before, and those earlier records were wildly successful. I didn’t expect that pattern to break now. But the incredibly catchy radio single “Beneficiary”—with the highly unlikely, Midnight-Oil-ish, white-guilt chorus of “I’m the beneficiary of genocide”—was an unavoidable triumph. 
CORRECTION!!!! Juror Holly Gordon pointed out that they longlisted in 2008. Apologies for missing that. 

Most sorry omission:

Digawolf – Yellowstone. I voted for it. You should hear it.

Shocked not to see:

Akua – Them Spirits. This Solange associate had a lot of love on the jury.  

Also somewhat surprised not to see:

Belle Plaine – Malice, Mercy, Grief & Wrath

Black Mountain – Destroyer

The Cosmic Range – The Gratitude Principle

Jayda G – Significant Changes

Murray Lightburn – Hear Me Out

Motherhood – Dear Bongo

Nehiyawak – Starlight

Doug Paisley – Starter Home

Rae Spoon – bodiesofwater

Colter Wall – Songs of the Plains

Hawksley Workman – Median Age Wasteland


Hall of Fame update: 

Dan Boeckner of Operators now has SIX Polaris nods in the course of his career, including two shortlist spots (one each for Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs). That’s more than anyone else in the prize’s history.

Following him is Tom Wilson of Lee Harvey Osmond, who marks his fifth appearance on a Polaris long list, putting him alongside fellow 5x-ers Drake, the New Pornographers and Arcade Fire (although those three artists either shortlisted or won the prize; Wilson has only ever longlisted).

In the heroes to zeroes category, Drake’s Scorpion did not longlist this year. Neither did the new Black Mountain album, which would have given the Vancouver rockers their fourth Polaris nod.  

Others in the 4x category of the Hall of Fame are BadBadNotGood, Bahamas, Basia Bulat, Joel Plaskett, the Sadies, Daniel Romano, Patrick Watson and The Weeknd. Joining the Hall of Fame this year is Shad, whose last three albums were all shortlisted.

Conspicuously absent from the 2019 list: popular favourites Arkells, Alessia Cara, Drake. But that’s what the Junos and Grammys are for.  

Shortlist will be announced on July 16. The gala is on Sept. 16.