Final Fantasy Wins The First Polaris Music Prize

09/19/06 6:30pm

by Steve McLean (CHARTattack)

Final Fantasy may have been in trouble if the Polaris Music Prize was awarded on the basis of an album's title instead of its quality, but He Poos Clouds was chosen by a panel of critics on Monday night to be the best record released in Canada over the past year.

Toronto's Owen Pallett, who essentially is Final Fantasy, beat nine other finalists for the first award of its kind presented in Canada. He was given a giant $20,000 cheque that would be useless if he took it to a bank, but also received a real one that he plans on using to pay off his boyfriend's student loan and to give to Blocks Recording Club, a Toronto-based collective that released He Poos Clouds in April.

Pallett, 27, was surprised and confused, but happy and appreciative of winning the inaugural Polaris title.

"Along with Malajube and Cadence Weapon, I'm one of the few bands with no money behind me, so I'm going to try to put it to good use," he said.

While the win will no doubt raise Pallett's profile, he was already known and respected in independent music circles for his work as a violinist and string arranger for such artists as Arcade Fire, Hidden Cameras and Jim Guthrie. Pallett, who flew in from Calgary for the event and was flying back to Vancouver for another show the next day, showed off his unique talent during a two-song performance at the gala ceremony held at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre.

Four other finalists also drew as enthusiastic a response as you're going to get from bands who are competing against them and normally jaded music industry folks. K'Naan, Sarah Harmer, Cadence Weapon and Malajube all gave strong one- or two-song performances of tracks from their nominated albums.

The remaining finalists were also represented, either whole or in part, at the show. Carl Newman and John Collins of The New Pornographers and Wolf Parade (who made a request for Polaris sponsor Rogers Wireless to pay off their hefty bar tab from the previous night) flew in from Texas, where they had just played the Austin City Limits Music Festival. James Shaw represented Metric, Andre Ethier came on stage on behalf of the now defunct Deadly Snakes, and Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning and Feist were on hand from Broken Social Scene. The non-performing nominees were introduced with video profiles and all 10 finalists were given limited-edition individually numbered poster prints designed by Canadian graphic artists.

While everyone was enjoying the show in the main room of the Phoenix, the 11-member jury (who were picked from more than 120 music journalists and broadcasters who whittled down the field to begin with) that selected the winner was sequestered in the venue's parlour choosing the winner.

"It was, as predicted, a passionate and intelligent debate about what makes a great album," said jury moderator and former Chart music editor Liisa Ladouceur. "In the end, it came down to a record that took us on a journey that was exceptional from start to finish."

Polaris, the brainchild of longtime record label A&R executive Steve Jordan, is based on the U.K.'s long-running Mercury Prize. The nominees were chosen from albums by Canadian artists that were released between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006.