The Quebec duo took continued their major breakthrough, taking home two major best Canadian music honours at the ceremony at Toronto’s Massey Hall last night (Sept. 22), winning for Vol. II and its track “Fabienk.” The Watchmen and Willie Dunn also earned the Polaris Heritage Prize distinction for their respective 1971 albums, McLaren Furnace Room and Willie Dunn.
Angine de Poitrine earned two of the country’s top musical honours in the same night.
The band emerged victorious at last night’s (Sept. 22) Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony powered by FACTOR at Toronto’s Massey Hall, taking home both the Polaris Music Prize for Vol. II and the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for “Fabienk.”
The wins were announced simultaneously by two-time Polaris Prize winner Jeremy Dutcher and Tanya van Luven, SOCAN’s chief membership officer, immediately following Angine de Poitrine’s live performance of “Fabienk.” The two did a bit in which van Luven took the stage to announce the Song Prize, and Dutcher joined her to tell her she had the wrong award case. After second-guessing which was which, they opened both to find the same name: Angine de Poitrine.
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As they did after winning their first award outside of Quebec, the Billboard Canada Global Breakthrough Award, the duo didn't drop their wordless alien gimmick to accept the award. Instead, the Billboard Canada cover stars mimed silently with the vinyl-shaped award until their their manager Sébastien Collin arrived to give some words on their behalf.
"It's a great year for all the music scene," he said. "Thanks for all the nominees and all the innovative music."
The honours earned them two cash prizes including $30,000 for the Album Prize, courtesy of the Slaight Family Foundation, and $10,000 for the Song Prize, which is split between the songwriters and performers.
"That all this attention is being directed toward music this rock-driven and this complex is unexpected, yet entirely deserved," Collin said in a later statement.
Angine de Poitrine were at home amongst the other shortlisters at the Polaris Music Prize, which values artistic merit above all other factors. As host Odario Williams of CBC noted, that includes social followers, label affiliation, stream count and genre. That's all irrelevant to the award, which is chosen by a jury of over 200 music critics, journalists and curators across the country.
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That leads to an eclectic shortlist of albums each year. Collin noted that the band's victory has been making interesting and challenging music accessible, which is something that was shared by all of the performers.
It's a good thing for the Polaris Prize, too, which has stayed unwaveringly true to its guiding ethos for over two decades now. Sometimes that's felt somewhat insular, with this celebration of the best Canadian music of the year having trouble travelling beyond the jury itself. But with their phenomenal breakthrough, Angine de Poitrine's win continues to bring attention to both them and the prize itself.
While the Polaris Prize is notoriously difficult to predict, it was a little easier this year. This was the first year that the award switched up its voting process. Instead of being argued by an 11-person grand jury, the winner was chosen by the entire 205-person voting pool (including Billboard Canada National Editor Richard Trapunski), who each voted for their top pick.
That may make things more predictable in the future, but Angine de Poitrine felt like the natural winner in any scenario. The band's victory was a rare case in which critical consensus lines up perfectly with international hype, industry accolades and commercial success, with the band playing record-breaking stages throughout the world over the last year.
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The band was nominated alongside Rochelle Jordan, Begonia, Peaches, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Tanya Tagaq, Les Louanges, Charlotte Cornfield, Aquakultre and Bibi Club for the Album Prize. They also competed with Charlotte Cornfield, Patrick Watson and Martha Wainwright, Charlotte Day Wilson and PUP for the Song Prize.
8 out of 10 of the Album Prize shortlisters performed, with only Rochelle Jordan missing.
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Peaches, who also wasn't there, was treated to an industrial spectacle by Toronto band Slash Need, who performed songs from No Lube So Rude in face stockings and fishnets while throwing breast-shaped beach balls into the crowd. It was true to the provocative spirit of the influential electroclash icon while making it their own.
The performances were memorable across-the-board, but a few others stood out.
Singer-songwriter Cornfield gave a standout performance of her nominated song "Hurts Like Hell" and "Kitchen," which stood out for their simple arrangements calling attention to the hard-hitting lyrics.
Tanya Tagaq brought her experimental twist on Inuk throat singing with a performance that seemed to do everything a human voice can do. She seemlessly moved from soft singing to all out metal growling as she twisted Saputjiji's "F- War" chant into a "F- Trump" chant to cheers from the audience.
Beverly Glenn-Copeland gave a powerful performance alongside his wife and collaborator Elizabeth Copeland to start the night. The 82-year-old trans icon revealed in 2024 that he was living with dementia, and Laughter In Summer is likely his last album. He brought a lightness and joy to this performance that felt especially moving as he and Elizabeth sang directly to each other, even linking up for a brief slow dance.
The Watchmen and Willie Dunn also earned the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, which recognizes albums that were released before the Polaris Prize's inception in 2006. '90s CanRock stars The Watchmen won the popular vote for their album, McLaren Furnace Room, released in 1992, while late influential Indigenous singer-songwriter Willie Dunn won the critic vote for his self-titled album Willie Dunn, released in 1971.
