(This blog post is likely to come off as cynical. Take it as you will...)
The Polaris Prize used to mean something. Since 2006, the award has been given to a Canadian artist deserving of merit by artistry, not by album sales. But, like all awards as they age, it's lost its shine and has started to become irrelevant.
This year's crop of ten shortlisted albums doesn't seem like a particularly strong one. Though there are some great albums here, this seems cobbled together by tin-eared hacks looking to make a statement of some sort.
I was a Polaris juror once upon a time, just a few years ago in 2010. The online debate over what albums should be included in the long list, then the final ten, and the final voting, are something I'd like to forget. You can boil down the jury into three camps. 1) Those jurors with the loudest voices, self-aggrandizing and arrogant, vain believers that they are the taste-makers of Canada. 2) Jurors looking to make a statement, advocating for whatever artist made a social or political statement, regardless of the quality of the album in question, and 3) music fans who like music and want to celebrate that. Sadly, the first two seem to be the loudest groups, and the smallest in size, but the ones that generally get the most attention.
My own participation was earnest at first, but when the conversation degenerated into non-music topics, like the politics of the performers, or the ethnic background or sexual orientation of the artists, I quickly lost interest. I don't believe I even participated in discussion once the short list was announced.
I've talked about this in the past, and referenced Johnny Regalado's infamous blog post, "I Was a Polaris Juror, and it Sucked". Regalado's on the other side of the fence from me as to the ethnic make up of the musicians (I think it doesn't matter at all, it's the music that counts), but he's spot on about the talk about the music in general. It's juvenile, and dominated by a few louder voices.
This year's nominees:
A Tribe Called Red - We Are the Halluci Nation
BadBadNotGood - IV
Leonard Cohen - You Want it Darker
Gord Downie - The Secret Path
Feist - Pleasure
Lisa Leblanc - Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?
Lido Pimienta - La Papessa
Tanya Tagaq - Retribution
Leif Vollebekk - Solitude
Weaves - Weaves
Looking at the list, I see what you would call a nice Grammys style mix there. We've got a few great albums, some albums on the list because the artists pulls at the heart strings or represent some political or social ideology, and some safe picks there because the albums are decent, but not great.
Falling into the first part are my two picks for best albums, likely Weaves and Leif Vollebekk. Weaves I picked for one of my favourite albums of 2016, and I truly think it's a groundbreaking and innovative. Vollebekk has simply made a really enjoyable indy-rock/folk album that's a joy to listen to from front to back.
I'd put Tanya Tagaq and A Tribe Called Red in the first group too, with both albums straddling genres and blurring the lines between First Nations traditional music and modern indy rock and electronic styles. Though these albums do have the distinction of also being First Nations artist, which is going to muddy the waters a bit. The question will come up, "Are they being recognized for the music or for their background?" I point back to the strange win of Buffy Sainte-Marie's thoroughly mediocre album in 2015 for my cynicism there.
Gord Downie and Leonard Cohen are the Grammy style nominees this year, the "sorry for your personal problems, here's an award" award. Cohen's album was quite average. Downie's album was fairly decent, but his diagnosis of cancer is going to colour his nomination.
Then the safe picks. Feist has already won the prize twice before. Pleasure is an average album. Lisa Leblanc's work was groundbreaking gritty country, up until this latest album, which is very plain. Same with BBNG, a plain album that pales in comparison to their previous album, but this one has more big name guest stars.
I've not heard the Lido Pimiento album, so I can't comment on it.
If I were a gambling man, I'd go with A Tribe Called Red this year. Their album was a stunning statement, a wildly ecclectic album, confronational, genre-bending album, difficult to listen to but awarding once dug into. I'd love to see Weaves take the prize, but I think it's a long shot at this point.
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