Angine de Poitrine take both prizes at 2026 Polaris
Anonymous Quebec rock duo Angine de Poitrine won the 2026 Polaris Music Prize for Canadian album of the year for Vol. II — and then won again.
The pair also took the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize for “Fabienk”, making them the first act to win both Polaris prizes in the same year, Pitchfork reported. The winners were announced at the Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony on September 22, 2026 at Massey Hall in Toronto.
The Polaris Music Prize honours the best Canadian album of the year, judged on artistic merit without regard to sales. This year’s album prize carried 30,000 Canadian dollars. The song prize, for best Canadian song of the year, carried 10,000 Canadian dollars. Polaris said the funding comes via the Slaight Family Foundation and SOCAN, the Canadian organisation that collects royalties for songwriters and publishers.
Angine de Poitrine are from Saguenay, Quebec. They perform as an anonymous duo, masked and in ornately costumed outfits, CBC reported. The group consists of guitarist-bassist Khn and drummer Klek, and Vol. II, described as a math-punk LP, is the band’s second album.
The shortlist around them was crowded. Other 2026 album nominees included Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Rochelle Jordan, Peaches and Tanya Tagaq, who won the Polaris in 2014. The album winner was decided by a vote of the full Polaris jury after presentations and debate by a smaller Grand Jury, according to Polaris.
Last year’s album winner was Yves Jarvis for All Cylinders. Mustafa won the inaugural song prize for “Gaza Is Calling”. Angine de Poitrine had already stepped onto a larger stage before the Polaris night, making their United States television debut performing “Zugzegk” on Fallon.
What makes this stand out is the double. Polaris only added a separate song prize recently, so no artist had the chance of a sweep before. Angine de Poitrine now hold both titles at once, with 40,000 Canadian dollars in combined prize money and a second album that travelled from Saguenay to Massey Hall.
