Published on the Polaris Music Prize website (www.polarismusicprize.ca) on June 21, 2010.
Amanda Ash (Vancouver)
Freelance Journalist
Jury Member Since: 2007
Please share the Top 5 Canadian records you put on your first ballot.
Basia BulatHeart of My Own
Tegan & Sara Sainthood
Justin RutledgeThe Early Widows
Hannah Georgas This is Good
You Say Party! We Say Die! XXXX
Tell us about your top ranked choice. Why #1?
Basia Bulat’s Heart Of My Own is a stunner. I fell in love with it the first time I heard it. Bulat’s voice is so grand and so powerful for such a tiny girl; her instrumentation is spirited; her lyricism divine. Every note the singer-songwriter pens is beautiful from every angle. Compared to Oh My Darling, Heart Of My Own has gained a graceful wisdom. There’s not a single track on the record that I don’t adore. From thundering, rolling numbers to soft, romantic lullabies, Heart Of My Own has everything that a music lover could ask for.
What record that’s perhaps local or under the radar did you suggest to the jury and/or would like to plug here to the whole world?
Hannah Georgas’ This Is Good was one of my local suggestions to the jury. Georgas, a Vancouver-based singer-songwriter, has accomplished so much yet she’s still unknown to many across Canada. Her pop-rock tunes are sassy yet sentimental, witty yet dead serious. Georgas is one of the most genuine artists I have heard in a long time, and she’s bound to become a household name very soon, thanks to her incredible talent.
Describe the state of Canadian music in five words or less:
Rich, tightly-knit, steadfast, unbelievably sexy.
Imagine the tables are turned and you are the nominee: What would you do with the $20,000 prize money?
I would probably use it to fund a documentary I want to film. It would be about how music has become a healing agent and a soldier for social change in war-torn countries.
Related Link: theindiefiles.com
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