Broken Social Scene and Tegan and Sara among short-listers for Polaris Prize

The 10 finalists were revealed today for the Polaris Prize, a prestigious award honouring Canadian music. The competition for the $20,000 prize money pits perennial CanCon favourites against several newbies. On the short list are:

• The Besnard Lakes, The Besnard Lakes Are the Roaring Night
• Broken Social Scene, Forgiveness Rock Record
• Caribou, Swim
• Karkwa, Les Chemins de Verre
• Dan Mangan, Nice, Nice, Very Nice
• Owen Pallett, Heartland
• Radio Radio, Belmundo Regal
• The Sadies, Darker Circles
• Shad, TSOL
• Tegan and Sara, Sainthood

We tend to favour the newcomers over the big names on the list, since last year’s prize went to Fucked Up, beating out K’Naan, Metric and Malajube; and other heavy hitters—like Arcade Fire, Feist and Sarah Harmer—have also missed out. But this could be Broken Social Scene’s year, after receiving immense acclaim for Forgiveness Rock Record and having made the short list for its self-titled album in 2006. The winner will be announced at the Polaris Prize gala and concert in Toronto on September 20.