Caribou beats the herd to win Polaris Prize
Source: By Tabassum Siddiqui
Posted: 09/30/08 1:12PM
Filed Under: Music
Seeing as the Polaris Music Prize goes to the best Canadian album, it was fitting that a band called Caribou (and originally named Manitoba) walked away with the $20,000 award last night at a gala at Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre. While the tight race between ten solid records seemed too close to call, many weren’t surprised to see Dundas, Ontario’s Dan Snaith, the one-man recording genius behind Caribou, take the prize for his sweetly psychedelic album Andorra—with the exception of Snaith himself, who appeared genuinely dazed and humbled as he took the stage to accept an oversized cheque after last year’s winner Patrick Watson announced the winner via video (Watson, unable to attend due to making a new album in Montreal, had pre-taped ten separate messages).
Polaris Prize Gala |
Dundas, Ontarion faveorite son Dan "Caribou" Snaith accepts a hilariously oversized $20,000 cheque as the winner of the 2008 Polaris Prize. |
 1 of 8
PHOTOS |
“If I seem completely overwhelmed, it’s because I am,” Snaith managed to stammer as he accepted the award. “I feel so lucky and so proud to be included in such an incredible group of albums both in the shortlist and the long list. The Polaris is such an amazing forum for music that might not otherwise get recognized to such an extent.”
Andorra was chosen over the nine other nominated records by a grand jury of 11 (including AOL Music editor Joshua Ostroff) who debated the artistic merits of each album while sequestered in a side room of the venue during last night’s gala, which was hosted by CBC Radio 3 host Grant Lawrence (dapper in a tweed suit) and featured two-song live sets by all the nominees except Caribou, Stars, and the Weakerthans, who performed via pre-recorded videos aired during the event.
- Caribou beats the herd to win Polaris Prize
- Polaris win 'completely overwhelms' solo act Caribou
- Chromewaves: Caribou's Melody Day
- Predicting Polaris: Picking Canada's Best Album
- Chromewaves: Bright Lights
- Shad: the Old Prince of Bel-Air
- Black Mountain Take On The Future
- Kathleen Edwards Digs Deep for 'Flowers'
- The Weakerthans Stay Strong and Free
- Weakerthans, Hey Rosetta take Verge Music awards
- Stars: Live @ The Interface
- Sweet n' Sour: Stars vs. Pitchfork
- Stars' Light Still Bright
- Not-So-Secret City
- Candie: Star is shining
- Rockers dominate Polaris prize short list
The jurors were selected from the pool of 178 music journalists who determined the best Canadian album released between June 1, 2007 and May 31, 2008, through a voting process that compiled a longlist of titles before winnowing them down to the final shortlist of ten.
Lawrence, who capably shepherded the two-hour show, which was aired live on CBC Radio 3 and taped for a future television special, quipped that when he was on the grand jury for the prize’s debut in 2006, it was a tense scene: “Things were being thrown… at me.”
Even though they were faced with a tough decision, this year’s jury didn’t come to blows, says juror Frank Yang, the blogger behind long-running site Chromewaves.
“The general atmosphere in the jury room was very civil—there were disagreements about things, but everyone was very open to everyone else's opinions. It was quite enjoyable just sitting and talking about the records,” he noted, adding that the jury ultimately chose Andorra for its timeless quality. “The Caribou album transcended genres and sort of established its own. It just really stood out as something that would be a much-referenced record five, ten years down the road. And that was one of the criteria I thought the winner should have.”
Following the gala, surrounded by media snapping photos of him holding his prop cheque, Snaith said the reality of his win still hadn’t sunk in: “It feels completely surreal,” he marvelled. “I’m overwhelmed and overjoyed. This whole experience is so far from me making an album in my bedroom.”
Snaith, who began making music as a teenager by fiddling with samplers and teaching himself how to record music, continues to make his albums by performing and recording everything himself in his home studio (though Caribou expands to a full band for the live show). While he said he hadn’t even thought seriously about how he would spend the $20,000 prize money because he didn’t really think he had a shot at winning, Snaith mused that the money might allow him to do things a bit differently on his next album, which he’s currently recording after spending the past year and half touring the globe in support of Andorra.
Snaith, who released his first albums under the moniker Manitoba, changed his musical handle to Caribou when he got a “quick education in U.S. trademark law” after being sued by American punk musician Handsome Dick Manitoba a few years back. “I was worried I’d be starting from scratch again,” Snaith, wryly noting he was sorry he wasn’t able to defend the Canuck name from an American interloper.
Having relocated to London, England a few years ago to pursue his Ph.D in math (“it’s a far more creative pursuit than people think”) and launch his music career, Snaith notes that being a bit removed from the Canadian music scene has given him an outsider’s perspective on things.
“I’ve noticed this tendency to want Canadian music to be noticed and taken seriously overseas, but as I’ve travelled abroad, everywhere I go, people are saying, ‘Why is Canadian music so great?’ So we can stop worrying,” he quipped to AOL, as his pal and fellow hometown musician Jeremy Greenspan of electro-popsters Junior Boys thrust a cell phone at him, reminding Snaith to call his wife Natasha back in the U.K.
Polaris founder Steve Jordan said organizers are thinking about starting up a separate francophone prize and are considering opening the gala—which is currently invite-only for industry personnel—to the public in the future. “We continue to be taken aback at how quickly and fervently [the prize] has been embraced by music fans,” he said.
100 %
0 %
