The 10 finalists for the Polaris Prize were announced today. Here they are:

Elliott Brood – Mountain Meadows
Fucked Up – The Chemistry of Common Life
Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels
Hey Rosetta! – Into Your Lungs
K’naan – Troubador
Malajube – Labyrinthes
Metric – Fantasies
Joel Plaskett – Three
Chad Vangaalen – Soft Airplane
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms

As expected, there is already quite a bit of discussion about who is NOT included in this list. Other issues of concern that people are talking about is the number of repeat nominees and the inclusion of an artist who has already won the award. These things do not concern me. Here is what concerns me about the short list.

The Polaris Prize is Canada’s answer to the British Mercury Prize, and being Canadian, we want to do it our way. As Canadians we love to root for the underdog. We love underdogs since most of the time it is us, except when it comes to banking systems and the World Junior Hockey Tournament. But in looking at the short list of 10, there is nobody there that I want to cheer for. I don’t see an underdog.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some great deserving albums there, but in years past we had Basia Bulat, Plants And Animals, Miracle Fortress and The Besnard Lakes to cheer for. These are artists that we felt like we, as Canadians had discovered. Having an artist recognized for their first album when they are relatively unknown and being launched onto the international stage is a story that we all want to be part of.

Lets break it down. Joel Plaskett tickets were $50 for his show at Massey Hall here in Toronto last month. Did anybody miss the East Coast Hey Rosetta Music Awards earlier this year? Patrick Watson already won the award and Metric, well do they really need any help being promoted?

In the list of 10, I would say that Fucked Up or Chad VanGaalen are the biggest underdogs. Everybody else is pretty well established in their musical career and has carved out their niche in the Canadian music scene. If you buy a Great Lake Swimmers CD, you pretty much know what you’re getting don’t ya?

I’ll admit that I am idealistic, but still, I want the guy or gal to win that nobody has heard of because in their obscurity, they were able to pump out the best album based on artistic merit this past year. If Timber Tambre, Coeur de Pirate, One Hundred Dollars or La Patere Rose had been on the short list, we would have had somebody to root for. Discuss.

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