Angine de Poitrine pulled off an otherworldly feat at the Polaris Music Prize on Tuesday, becoming the first act to win both of the event’s top honours.
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Poitrine → pull → honours
The masked rock duo from Saguenay, Que., who conceal their identities behind extraterrestrial personas, had their second record, “Vol. II,” named best Canadian album of the year, earning them the $30,000 cash honour.
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record → conceal → honour
The album’s opening track, “Fabienk,” also won the $10,000 song award, which was handed out for just the second time.
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which → win → time
Both awards were handed out during a gala at Massey Hall, which featured performances by most of the 10 shortlisted artists, including Toronto singer-songwriter Charlotte Cornfield, Hamilton’s Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Quebec acts Bibi Club and Les Louanges.
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which → hand → Cornfield
Angine de Poitrine — which is composed of guitarist Khn and drummer Klek — closed the show, then came back on stage minutes later to accept their wins.
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which → compose → wins
Khn and Klek blew kisses to the audience and patted their hearts in appreciation.
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Khn → blow → appreciation
Neither speaks publicly, part of maintaining their anonymity, so their manager Sébastien Collin stepped in on their behalf.
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manager → speak → behalf
Collin thanked the 205-person Polaris jury for recognizing Angine de Poitrine’s “weird and complex” music.
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Collin → thank → music
After the show, Collin joked that the alien duo celebrated their win by sending hot dogs and sardines back to their home planet.
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duo → joke → planet
“For them, sending a hot dog is a kind of recognition,” he said.
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he → send → recognition
Beyond the night’s big winners, many of the shortlisted artists made their mark.
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many → shortlist → mark
Begonia just wants to have fun
Taking a cue from her own campy look, Begonia was ready to razzle and dazzle the Polaris crowd.
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Begonia → want → crowd
Wearing an outfit she described as Cyndi Lauper crossed with “Toddlers and Tiaras” — with a dash of Dolly Parton — the Winnipeg pop singer was practically vibrating with energy backstage as her makeup artists applied the finishing touches.
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artists → wear → touches
Begonia, born Alexa Dirks, is familiar with the Polaris stage, having performed here when her previous album made the shortlist in 2023.
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album → bear → 2023
This year, it was her latest record “Fantasy Life” in contention, and she knew the nomination was a chance to give new listeners a taste of what she can do.
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she → know → what
“I love an opportunity to do a medley,” she said before the show.
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she → love → show
“So we’ve jammed four songs into seven minutes.”
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we → jam → minutes
On stage, those songs whizzed by, culminating in a full-length performance of her showstopper “My Fantasy Life,” an irony-dripping pop song about the highs and lows of chasing her music dreams.
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songs → whiz → dreams
Tanya Tagaq notched a Polaris win in 2014, so the Inuk throat singer wasn’t particularly worried about the competitive side of the evening.
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singer → notch → evening
Instead, she admitted backstage to having stage jitters after time away working on a new book and film project.
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she → admit → project
Tagaq was shortlisted for her seventh record, “Saputjiji,” an Inuktitut word meaning “designated protector.”
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Tagaq → shortlist → protector
The album is a reckoning with destructive capitalist forces, opening with the song “F — k War,” which builds its intensity through a repeated chant of its title.
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which → open → title
The powerful song closed her Polaris performance, but Tagaq decided to make a blunt addendum to the lyrics:
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Tagaq → close → lyrics
F — k war. F — k Trump,” she repeatedly shouted, prompting cheers from the audience.
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she → shout → audience
Tagaq finished on a warmer note: she and a collaborator performed a throat song together, which ended in laughter and a hug.
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which → finish → laughter
Peaches leaves her outrageous mark
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Peaches → leave → mark
Even in absentia, Peaches knows how to cause a stir.
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Peaches → know → stir
The Toronto provocateur sent her regrets to Polaris due to a previously scheduled concert in Baltimore, and invited local industrial electropunk act Slash Need to perform at the show in her place.
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provocateur → send → place
The all-female act wasted little time before making an impression.
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act → waste → impression
At a pre-awards cocktail reception, the band’s dancers arrived in black outfits and fishnet stockings, their faces obscured by pantyhose decorated with bright red lips.
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faces → arrive → lips
Within moments, they were crawling around on the floor, striking seductive poses beneath a table laden with cheese platters.
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they → crawl → platters
Some attendees were shocked, others were intrigued, and it wasn’t long before all of the photographers were circling.
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all → shock → photographers
“When you get a gaggle of fun people together, we’re all just gonna have a little giggle,” said singer Dusty Lee.
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Lee → get → giggle
The spectacle was merely a warm-up for the Peaches tribute, which featured several tracks from her shortlisted album “No Lube So Rude.”
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which → feature → album
Lee opened the performance in shadow before tearing through the screen and joining her dancers as they tossed out inflatable beach balls made to look like giant breasts, which bounced around the auditorium.
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which → open → auditorium
Slash Need built to a roaring finish, then made a quick escape from the stage.
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Need → build → stage
When the eight members of Halifax soul collective Aquakultre learned their concept album “1783” had been shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, they decided to go bigger than ever for their performance.
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they → learn → performance
By the time they arrived in Toronto, they had nearly doubled their ranks, bringing in two horn players, three backup singers, Toronto’s former poet laureate George Elliott Clarke, and former “Canadian Idol” competitor Gary Beals who joined them on their song “Scotia Born.
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who → arrive → song
“We’re maxing it out,” said band member Jackson Fairfax before they took the stage.
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they → maxe → stage
“We always try to do the biggest thing we can.”
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we → try → thing
…and 3 more, not listed.
The Aporia
