And then there were 10. The Polaris Music Prize has whittled down its 40-album “Long List” of nominees for the 2013 award to a “Short List” of 10 finalists.
Come September 23, one of these records will be recognized as the year’s best by a Canadian artist: Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, Purity Ring’s Shrines, Tegan and Sara‘s Heartthrob, METZ‘s METZ, Metric’s Synthetica, Colin Stetson’s New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light, Young Galaxy’s Ultramarine, A Tribe Called Red’s Nation II Nation, Whitehorse’s The Fate of the World Depends on This Kiss, and Zaki Ibrahim’s Every Opposite. (Quick side note: the Metric, Purity Ring, and Godspeed entries all appeared on SPIN’s 50 Best Albums of 2012 list.)
Rhye’s Woman, Mac DeMarco’s 2, Majical Cloudz‘s Impersonator, and the Besnard Lakes’ Until in Excess, Imperceptible UFO were among the “Long List” LPs that didn’t make the final cut.
As mentioned earlier, the results will be announced on September 23 at an awards gala held in Toronto and hosted by two-time past “Short List” nominees Kathleen Edwards and Shad. A limited number of public tickets will go on sale for $50 on Monday, July 22. The winner is selected by a Grand Jury of 11, which is culled from a panel of more than 200 Canadian journalists, broadcasters, and programmers. In addition to earning the title of Canadian Album of the Year, the victor receives $30,000. Last year’s honor went to Feist for Metals.
