The long list for the 2018 Polaris Music Prize has been announced.
The Canadian equivalent of the UK’s annual Mercury Prize, the award will go to the best album by a Canadian artist released between 1st June, 2017 and 31st May, 2018.
The long list features 40 nominees, which will be whittled down to ten on 17th July, with the gala then crowning the winner on 18th September.
The nominees include full-lengths from Arcade Fire, Alvvays, U.S. Girls and Weaves, with the full list looking like this:
a l l i e – Nightshade
Alvvays – Antisocialites
Arcade Fire – Everything Now
Bahamas – Earthtones
The Barr Brothers – Queens of the Breakers
Bernice – Puff LP: In the air without a shape
Jean-Michel Blais – Dans ma main
Bonjay – Lush Life
Booji Boys – Weekend Rocker
Philippe Brach – Le silence des troupeaux
Cadence Weapon – Cadence Weapon
Daniel Caesar – Freudian
Jennifer Castle – Angels of Death
Clairmont The Second – Lil Mont from The Ave
Gord Downie – Introduce Yerself
Jeremy Dutcher – Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa
Faith Healer – Try ?
FRIGS – Basic Behaviour
Zaki Ibrahim – The Secret Life of Planets
Iskwé – The Fight Within
Kacy & Clayton – The Siren’s Song
Lydia Képinski – Premier Juin
Pierre Kwenders – MAKANDA at the End of Space, the Beginning of Time
Pierre Lapointe – La science du coeur
Mélissa Laveaux – Radyo Siwèl
Hubert Lenoir – Darlène
Terra Lightfoot – New Mistakes
Loud – Une année record
Milk & Bone – Deception Bay
Partner – In Search Of Lost Time
Propagandhi – Victory Lap
Vivek Shraya & Queer Songbook Orchestra – Part-Time Woman
Sloan – 12
Snotty Nose Rez Kids – The Average Savage
U.S. Girls – In A Poem Unlimited
The Weather Station – The Weather Station
Weaves – Wide Open
Charlotte Day Wilson – Stone Woman
Donovan Woods – Both Ways
YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN – Dirt