By Todd Lavoie
Looks like Patrick Watson’s ridin’ the champagne wave. The California-born Montrealer was just awarded Canada’s esteemed Polaris Music Prize for Best Canadian Album of 2007, beating out stiff competition from nominees Feist, the Arcade Fire, and the Besnard Lakes, among others. (What, no Rush? Avril Lavigne? The indignity of it all!) Sure, the prestige has gotta feel good, and the extra publicity must be nice, but how’s this for a cherry on top: the Polaris is a $20,000 cash prize. Not a bad way to offset some of those pesky touring costs. Watson and his identically named quartet are spending the next couple of months charming audiences across Europe and Canada. (Sadly, no American dates at this point, but fingers crossed. Perhaps all this added exposure will inspire a stateside itinerary as well.)
Enter the familiar refrain: “But who is this Patrick Watson guy?” A fair question, considering thus far he’s flown pretty deep under the radar of the music press. Mention the name, and chances are you’ll either get a shrug and a stare or the foot-stompalicious chorus from “The Magic Position.” (That’s Patrick Wolf, pumpkin.) His sophomore album, Close to Paradise (Secret City), has been given heaps of praise – when it’s been reviewed, that is. Up till now, it’s been a hidden little gem, buried away under the sheer crushing power of so much great music coming out this year.
No wonder, then, that it was such a major upset – especially if you were a betting fool with all your chips firmly placed upon The Neon Bible (Merge) – when the relatively obscure singer-songwriter swooped in from the shadows to collect his 20,000 Loonies. Hell, even the almighty tastemakers at pitchfork.com – ever so proud of their ability to remain several points ahead of the curve – found themselves staring down a mighty slab of humble pie upon finding out that the winner of a big-deal music prize was a guy to whom they’d devoted absolutely no coverage whatsoever. I could take advantage of the situation and snark on Pitchfork, but certainly I’ve heard a thing or two about stones and glass houses. Besides, how about focusing on the upside: there’s just so much wonderful stuff out there that it’s impossible to catch it all.