What to know
- Quebec duo Angine de Poitrine won both the 2026 Polaris Album Prize and SOCAN Polaris Song Prize at Toronto’s Massey Hall.
- Their album Vol. II earned the duo $30,000, while their song “Fabienk” added another $10,000.
- This year marked the first time the full 205-member Polaris jury voted on the final Album Prize winner, replacing the previous 11-person grand jury system.
- The masked Saguenay pair, known for their polka-dotted costumes and fictional 333-year-old alien backstory, have rapidly built an international following.
- The ceremony also honoured The Watchmen’s McLaren Furnace Room and Willie Dunn’s self-titled 1971 album with Polaris Heritage Prize designations.
To no one’s surprise, polka-dotted, mask-wearing, microtonal math-rock duo Angine de Poitrine won Canada’s prestigious 2026 Polaris Album Prize for Vol. 2, and the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for “Fabienk,” last night at Toronto’s Massey Hall, which showcased 10 shortlisted albums up for the best Canadian album of the year, as determined by 205 music critics from across the country.
The album prize comes with $30,000, and the song prize another $10,000.
The definition of a meteoric success, Angine de Poitrine, which has sold out shows all over Canada and the US, as well as outside the continent, initially wasn’t listed as one of the performing acts, but last week Polaris excitedly issued a press release announcing that they would be.
With all the hoopla over the anonymous pair, who spin a narrative that they are 333-year-old aliens but actually hail from Saguenay, Quebec, it would’ve been a major upset if they hadn’t won, even if there were worthy rivals on that list.
For the first time in Polaris’ 21-year history, all the jury members voted for the best album. Previous years, the entire jury voted to whittle down the selections to 40 titles, then the shortlist. That shortlist was then heavily debated by a grand jury, in the early years of the prize with the deliberations actually taking place behind closed doors during the event. The winner was announced onstage at the end of the night.
Now, the cool factor of being sequestered in an on-site room passionately debating is gone and the strict adherence to a deep-dive debate into the artistic merit of each album is not ensured by every jury member, which risks making it a popularity contest the opposite of why the award was created. The key to the Polaris Music Prize is that it is only judged on artistic merit — not sales, not genre, not record label, not live show, not polka dots.
With or without the costume, Angine de Poitrine’s Vol. 2 is a unique creative work that is as challenging and intricate as it is fun and groovy.
The pair were the last performers of the evening, and then came back out to accept their prizes. Khn, who plays a custom double-neck guitar/bass combo, and drummer Klek didn’t give an acceptance speech because they “talk” in an indecipherable space language, but their manager Sébastien Collin thanked the jurors for “having affection for the weird and complex rock as they can do,” as they stood alongside him in their long-nosed black-and-white get-up, bowing and nodding.
There were also standout performances by all the short-listed artists throughout the night, including by 82-year-old Beverly Glenn-Copeland; a poignant turn by Aquakulture, a fitting industrial tribute by Slash Need to Peaches, and a powerhouse vocal by Begonia.
Other awards given out at the event were two Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize designations, intended to recognize exceptional Canadian albums from before the Polaris Music Prize was created in 2006. Those went to The Watchmen’s McLaren Furnace Room (1992) and the eponymous album by the late Willie Dunn (1971).
The 2026 Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony was recorded by CBC for a future episode of the CBC Music Presents: Live At Massey Hall series. Individual performance videos and the winner reveal will be available at cbcmusic.ca/polaris.
Up against Angine de Poitrine’s Vol. II were Aquakultre’s 1783; Begonia’s Fantasy Life; Bibi Club’s Amaro; Charlotte Cornfield’s Hurts Like Hell; Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s Laughter In Summer; Rochelle Jordan’s Through The Wall; Les Louanges’ Alouette!; Peaches’ No Lube So Rude; and previous Polaris winner Tanya Tagaq’s Saputjiji.
Unconscious or not by the jurors, Polaris is known for favouring more experimental, non-pop albums.
Past winners are Yves Jarvis (2025), Jeremy Dutcher (2024), Debby Friday (2023), Pierre Kwenders (2022), Cadence Weapon (2021), Backxwash (2020), Haviah Mighty (2019), Jeremy Dutcher (2018), Lido Pimienta (2017), Kaytranada (2016), Buffy Sainte-Marie (2015), Tagaq (2014), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2013), Feist (2012), Arcade Fire (2011), Karkwa (2010), Fucked Up (2009), Caribou (2008), Patrick Watson (2007) and Final Fantasy / Owen Pallett (2006).
The SOCAN Polaris Song Prize is only in its second year. Last year’s winner was Mustafa’s “Gaza is Calling,” written by Mustafa Ahmed, Emmanuel Hailemariam, Simon Hessman and Nicolas Jaar.
