TORONTO - Montreal's Arcade Fire has won the $30,000 Polaris Music Prize, yet another accolade for the band's universally celebrated third album, "The Suburbs."
The Montrealers already swept album-of-the-year honours at the Juno, Grammy and Brit Awards with the concept disc, which opened at No. 1 on the Billboard chart in Canada, the United States and the U.K. On Monday, they bested a group of comparatively lower-profile nominees to claim the Polaris.
"Since the beginning of our career, we've tried to get paid in an oversized novelty cheque, but no one did it -- 'til now," joked multi-instrumentalist Richard Reed Parry as he claimed the large note.
"Thanks Polaris."
Backstage, he acknowledged that the band still hasn't got the hang of being feted at award shows.
"Just so you guys know, all this stuff makes us profoundly awkward -- for real," said Parry, who added that the band would direct the award cash toward their Montreal studio.
Arcade Fire's win capped a three-hour-plus gala that saw six of the 10 shortlisted groups perform, including Toronto singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith (the most experienced Polaris nominee of all time), Calgary-reared art-pop purveyors Braids and riff-heavy Montreal rockers Galaxie.
Cast as plucky underdogs at the Grammys earlier this year, Arcade Fire this time seemed the mighty front-runners. The selection of such a decorated album for the Polaris might have seemed like an obvious choice, if not for this particular prize's history of upending expectations.
The 10-album list of finalists was based on the voting of more than 200 music journalists, bloggers and broadcasters, and the winner was chosen by an 11-person grand jury of music critics.
In the past, juries have occasionally seemed to delight in defying preconceptions, consistently sparking debate among the award's forward-thinking followers -- consider 2007, when Patrick Watson's "Close to Paradise" surprisingly triumphed over records from Feist and Arcade Fire that had enjoyed considerably more critical and commercial success.
Organizers of the prize have always been consistent in saying that the award should go to the best Canadian album of the year, based solely on artistic merit -- and nothing else. But the award can't shake the reputation that it's intended for emerging acts, and even backstage before the gala, artists debated whether Arcade Fire were too big to win the Polaris.
"I don't think they're too big, but it would be funny to give an award to a band of millionaires," said Timber Timbre frontman Taylor Kirk, whose band was shortlisted for "Creep On Creepin' On."
Katie Stelmanis, frontwoman for the icy electro outfit Austra, agreed to an extent, but still felt the Montrealers deserved their latest accolade.
"(They're big) just in comparison to where everyone else is at," she said. "But it's a great record."
Arcade Fire frontman Win Butler seemed to acknowledge the debate when addressing the gala crowd and discussing this year's crop of nominees.
"It doesn't matter if you've heard of the band, it could still be the best thing ever," he said.
"And if you have heard of them, it doesn't mean it sucks."
