Karkwa Talk Polaris Music Prize Nomination

CHART ATTACK :

Like everyone else, Karkwa were happy to find themselves on the Polaris Music Prize short list on Tuesday (July 6) afternoon, but were having a hard time dealing with the sweltering heat at Toronto's Drake Hotel Sky Yard.

The band now have a one in 10 chance of their Les Chemins De Verre album declared the most artistically badass album made in Canada in the last year.

We spoke to singer/guitarist Louis-Jean Cormier and drummer Julien Sagot about what this all means.

CHARTattack: How do you feel right now?

Louis-Jean Cormier: We're very, very good. Very hot, but very good. We are honoured to be on the list.

What will you do with the money if you win?

Louis-Jean Cormier: With the money? Run! Run away! I don't know. Maybe we'll take a little longer break. We are off this summer, we are on vacation, and that's the first time in 10 years. So, maybe... I'm just kidding, but the money is bienvenue [French for "welcome"] in this job.

So if you don't win, who would you like to see win and why?

Louis-Jean Cormier: I hope that it's going to be Owen Pallett. I like Owen Pallett a lot. The first time I heard his album it was very, very cool, the music. So maybe Owen Pallett, but I wish that we will win. We sing in French. Like I was saying to someone before, we are the black lamb of the list. Le mouton noir.

Julien Sagot: Owen Pallett as well.

Louis-Jean Cormier: It could be fine that the winner is francophone. It would be fine, but we know the reality. Do you think that the language changes something? That the fact we sing in French will affect the results?

Do you mean for or against you?

Louis-Jean Cormier: Yes.

No, I don't think so. When I listen to a record, I don't judge it based on its language or whether I can understand the lyrics or not. I look at the album as a whole, and I think that's the way other jurors should do it.

So don't be modest. Why should you win?

Louis-Jean Cormier: We are awesome! We are outstanding! I don't know. That's really hard for us to describe what we are doing and what our album sounds like. We have folk rock and ambient style, and we sing in French, and most of the time we are compared to Sigur Ros. We don't sing in English, but we're compared a lot of times with Radiohead and atmospheric music like rock. But the latest Karkwa album is folkier than le dernier [the last]. Maybe more organic.

Article by Kate Harper(CHARTattack)07/07/10