The Polaris Music Prize, presented by CBC Music and produced by Blue Ant Media, unveiled the 40 albums on this year’s Long List earlier today at the National Arts Centre (NAC) in Ottawa, Ontario with the support of Lixar at 2pm today, June 13.

 

The 2017 Polaris Music Prize Long List:

A Tribe Called Red - We Are The Halluci Nation

Alaclair Ensemble - Les Frères Cueilleurs

Anciients - Voice of the Void

Arkells - Morning Report

Philippe B - La grande nuit vidéo

BadBadNotGood – IV

Louise Burns - Young Mopes

Chocolat - Rencontrer Looloo 

Clairmont The Second - Quest For Milk and Honey

Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker

Antoine Corriveau - Cette chose qui cognait au creux de sa poitrine sans vouloir s'arrêter

Le Couleur - P.O.P.

Marie Davidson - Adieux Au Dancefloor

Mac Demarco - This Old Dog        

Gord Downie - Secret Path

Drake - More Life

Feist – Pleasure

Figure Walking - The Big Other

Fiver - Audible Songs From Rockwood

Geoffroy - Coastline

Hannah Georgas - For Evelyn

Japandroids - Near To The Wild Heart Of Life

Carly Rae Jepsen - E.MO.TION Side B

B.A. Johnston - Gremlins III

Lisa LeBlanc - Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?

The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions

Klô Pelgag - L'Étoile thoracique

Peter Peter - Noir Éden

Lido Pimienta - La Papessa

Jessie Reyez – Kiddo

Daniel Romano - Modern Pressure

The Sadies - Northern Passages

John K. Samson - Winter Wheat

Tanya Tagaq – Retribution

The Tragically Hip - Man Machine Poem

TUNS - TUNS

Leif Vollebekk - Twin Solitude                  

Weaves - Weaves

The Weeknd - Starboy

Charlotte Day Wilson – CDW

In total, 188 titles made the first ballots of the 201 member jury.

Past multiple Polaris nominees, Kathleen Edwards and The Acorn’s Rolf Klausener, joined Polaris jurors Lana Gay and Erik Leijon to reveal the Long List. In addition, surprise guest, Philippe B, was on hand to perform music from his 2017 Long-Listed album, La grande nuit vidéo.

The 10 album Short List will be announced live on July 13 on CBC Music’s Facebook page. The winning album will be determined at the Polaris Gala September 18 at The Carlu in Toronto, which will be livestreamed at CBCMusic.ca.

The eligibility period for the 2017 Polaris Music Prize runs from June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017. An independent jury of music journalists, broadcasters and music bloggers from across Canada determines the Long List and Short List. Eleven people are selected from the larger jury pool to serve on the Grand Jury and they will convene the night of the Polaris Gala to select the 2017 Polaris Music Prize winner. The Polaris Music Prize will award $50,000 to the artist who creates the Canadian Album of the Year. Each of the nine other Short List artists receive $3,000 courtesy of Slaight Music.

CBC Radio 2 will feature the Polaris Music Prize Long List on Radio 2 Morning and Radio 2 Drive. Following the Long List announcement on June 13, you can tune into Radio 2 Drive with guest host Emma Godmere to catch a first listen of some of Long List nominees, beginning at 3 p.m. (3:30 NT). The next morning, host Raina Douris will present a full hour of Long List highlights on Radio 2 Morning, Wednesday, June 14, at 8 a.m. (8:30 NT). Tune in online or find your local CBC Radio 2 frequency at cbcmusic.ca/radio2, and visit cbcmusic.ca/polaris for more coverage.

About the Polaris Music Prize

The Polaris Music Prize is a not-for-profit organization that annually honours and rewards artists who produce Canadian music albums of distinction. A select panel of music critics judge and award the Prize without regard to musical genre or commercial popularity. polarismusicprize.ca