Arcade Fire Win Polaris Music Prize

After taking home the Grammy award, the Brit award, and the Juno award for Album of the Year, Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs has added another prize to its shelf: best Canadian album of the past 12 months, earning the 2011 Polaris Music Prize, announced yesterday evening in Toronto.

The indie rocker’s third album bested some high-profile competition, including R&B artist The Weeknd, indie veterans Destroyer, and art rock band Braids.

Drummer Jeremy Gara and multi-instrumentalist Richard Parry accepted the award on behalf of the band. “Anyone who is under 18 and playing music and everyone who has ever been on stage and had the opportunity to play music and have someone hear it, just stick with it, because in 20 years you could be up here and have an album much better than this,” Gara said.

The $30,000 prize is judged by a jury of journalists and broadcasters from across Canada. The award is heralded for its focus on music, instead of record sales or genre. However, the chart-topping The Suburbs was seen as the album to beat. “A lot of people say Arcade Fire won’t win because of their size and their popularity and that’s exactly what the Polaris is not about,” said Hey Rosetta! singer Tim Baker, whose band’s album Seeds was one of the nine competing for the prize. “The Polaris isn’t about record sales, but that has to work both ways and I think Arcade Fire should win because they made the most amazing record.”

The judges couldn’t agree more last night, hailing the album as “beautifully composed” and “evocative and powerful.”

See below for the full short list of nominees:

Austra for Feel It Break

Braids for Native Speaker

Destroyer for Kaputt

Galaxie for Tigre et diesel

Hey Rosetta! for Seeds

Ron Sexsmith for Long Plyaer Late Bloomer

Colin Stetson for New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges

Timbre Timbre for Creep On Creepin’ On

The Weeknd for House Of Balloons