The annual Polaris Music Prize has been announced with one standing above all others, a clear winner is Gord Downie's "Secret Path". I can see the Polaris judges even awarding the prize to both Downie's solo album and to the Tragically Hip's "Man Machine Poem" - no one's works alone after all.

"Secret Path" is not just a sentimental choice it is the only true artistic choice. The album, the graphic book, the story, the concerts, the awareness, the fund, the documentary, the TV special all add up to single-minded purpose, an action undertaken just to act, an action that underscores the idea of being and how to be in the world, it is a way to understand the world and a way to express one's own path to understanding, it is in the most simple terms and in the most complex, ART. It stands as the single most important music related artistic achievement of the past year and perhaps even since the Prize's initial winner, Final Fantasy's "He Poos Clouds."

For the record here is the full Long List. It will be pared down to a shortlist announced July 13 and then down to the final ten. The winner will be announced at a gala September 18.

A Tribe Called Red - We Are The Halluci Nation
Alaclair Ensemble - Les Frères Cueilleurs
Anciients - Voice of the Void
Arkells - Morning Report
Philippe B - La grande nuit vidéo
BADBADNOTGOOD – IV
Louise Burns - Young Mopes
Chocolat - Rencontrer Looloo
Clairmont The Second - Quest For Milk and Honey
Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker
Antoine Corriveau - Cette chose qui cognait au creux de sa poitrine sans vouloir s'arrêter
Le Couleur - P.O.P.
Marie Davidson - Adieux Au Dancefloor
Mac Demarco - This Old Dog
Gord Downie - Secret Path
Drake - More Life
Feist – Pleasure
Figure Walking - The Big Other
Fiver - Audible Songs From Rockwood
Geoffroy - Coastline
Hannah Georgas - For Evelyn
Japandroids - Near To The Wild Heart Of Life
Carly Rae Jepsen - E.MO.TION Side B
B.A. Johnston - Gremlins III
Lisa LeBlanc - Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?
The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions
Klô Pelgag - L'Étoile thoracique
Peter Peter - Noir Éden
Lido Pimienta - La Papessa
Jessie Reyez – Kiddo
Daniel Romano - Modern Pressure
The Sadies - Northern Passages
John K. Samson - Winter Wheat
Tanya Tagaq – Retribution
The Tragically Hip - Man Machine Poem
TUNS - TUNS
Leif Vollebekk - Twin Solitude
Weaves - Weaves
The Weeknd - Starboy
Charlotte Day Wilson – CDW