Quebec duo Angine de Poitrine wins 2026 Polaris Music Prize
Angine de Poitrine, the masked and ornately costumed band from Saguenay, Que., has won the 2026 Polaris Music Prize.
The otherworldly rock band took home the $30K prize for their 2nd album
Kelsey Adams · CBC Music
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Angine de Poitrine, the masked and ornately costumed band from Saguenay, Que., has won the 2026 Polaris Music Prize.
The anonymous duo received the accolade and $30,000 for their second album, Vol.II.
Their manager Sébastien Collin gave an acceptance speech on their behalf since the band members, Khn and Klek, do not speak in their real voices, opting instead to use a made-up language to maintain their anonymity.
"That all this attention is being directed toward music this rock-driven and this complex is unexpected, yet entirely deserved," Collin said at the end of the Polaris Music Prize Concert in Toronto at Massey Hall.
"This artistic project is the result of a lifetime of refinement, collaboration, a drive to push beyond one’s limits, and a refusal to be confined by any established framework."
The Polaris Music Prize goes to the best Canadian album of the year, based solely on artistic merit and voted by a jury of Canadian music experts. The prize has been given out every year since 2006. Past winners include Feist, Kaytranada, Patrick Watson, Jeremy Dutcher, Debby Friday and more.
Angine de Poitrine has had a massive year. The band's dizzying, tension-filled microtonal rock first took the world by storm when they went viral after a performance on KEXP, the Seattle-based radio station, which now sits at 19 million views on YouTube.
Just two years after the release of their debut album, they've sold-out an international headlining tour, opened for Jack White, shared a stage with Shania Twain and made appearances on British and American late-night shows.
Vol.II was selected from a short list of 10 albums by more than 200 Canadian music critics and journalists who make up the Polaris jury.
Angine de Poitrine beat out previous winner Tanya Tagaq, and previous nominees Les Louanges, Bibi Club, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Begonia, Peaches, Rochelle Jordan, Charlotte Cornfield and Aquakultre.
Polaris Song Prize and Heritage Prize winners announced
Angine de Poitrine also took home the Song Prize, a joint award from SOCAN and Polaris that goes to the best Canadian song of the year, beating out Charlotte Cornfield, Pup, Charlotte Day Wilson, Patrick Watson and Martha Wainwright.
The band's song Fabienk won the $10,000 prize, as voted by the Polaris jury.
WATCH | Angine de Poitrine perform Fabienk on KEXP:
The Song Prize is a new endeavour, only in its second year. Toronto folk musician Mustafa was last year's inaugural winner.
Earlier in the night, the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize winners were announced. The Heritage Prize is Polaris's way of giving nods to albums that were released before they launched in 2006. It is decided in part by a jury of critics and also by a public vote.
Willie Dunn's 1971 self-titled album won the jury selection and the Watchmen's 1992 album, McLaren Furnace Room, won the public vote.
WATCH | The audio for Willie Dunn's I Pity the Country, from his 1971 album:
Dunn's widow, Liz Moore and son Lawrence Dunn, took to the stage to honour the late Mi'kmaq singer-songwriter. On behalf of his father, Lawrence reminded the audience of the core message of Willie's album — the historic suffering of Indigenous people at the hands of imperial and colonial forces.
"Willie forces the raw question: Who is served by this suffering? He turns the mythic artifact into embodied grief with sanctity and sovereignty inseparable. Not an easy cure, but an enduring, luminous indictment of the crown."
Shortly after, the four current members of Winnipeg band the Watchmen praised their fans in their acceptance speech, saying, "We really want to thank the fans. It's a fan award. We do have the best fans. I know it's a cliché, but it's true.
"They made it possible, and not only the award, but they make it possible for us to still continue to play in the the greatest country in the world, so we're really grateful for that."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kelsey Adams is an arts and culture journalist from Toronto. Her writing explores the intersection of music, art and film, with a focus on the work of marginalized cultural producers. She is an associate producer for CBC Music.
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