The 2026 Polaris Music Prize ceremony, held last night at Massey Hall, saw Angine de Poitrine taking home both of the night’s major awards.
The elusive Saguenay duo won the Polaris Album Prize for Vol. II, the $30,000 prize awarded to Canada’s album of the year based on artistic merit. Soon thereafter, they followed that win by taking the $10,000 SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for “Fabienk,” making Angine de Poitrine the first ever act to win both awards since the song prize was introduced.
The pair accepted the awards at Massey Hall in Toronto on Tuesday night in their now-familiar black-and-white polka-dot costumes and masks. The microtonal math-rock band, whose members perform under the names Khn and Klek, have built much of their public identity around their extraterrestrial mythology and refusal to reveal their faces.
The SOCAN Song Prize came with a $10,000 award to be divided among the song’s Canadian performers and credited Canadian songwriters. “Fabienk” was selected over songs by Charlotte Cornfield, PUP, Patrick Watson and Martha Wainwright, and Charlotte Day Wilson.
The evening also revealed the two winners of the Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, which recognizes significant Canadian albums released before the Polaris Music Prize was established. The Watchmen were honoured for their 1992 debut McLaren Furnace Room, while the late Willie Dunn received the designation for his self-titled 1971 album.
The ceremony featured performances from most of this year's album short list, including Angine de Poitrine themselves, Aquakultre, Begonia, Bibi Club, Charlotte Cornfield, Beverly Glenn-Copeland with Elizabeth Copeland, Les Louanges and Tanya Tagaq. Slash Need also performed an interpretation of Peaches' No Lube So Rude.
