Polaris Music Prize: Where's Kevin Drew's New Record?

There's no doubt that this year's Polaris shortlist had all the good Canadian records of 2007/08 (good call on the inclusion of Two Hours Traffic, Kathleen Edwards and Basia Bulat). I am even sure the right band won (Caribou). But for a music prize that purports to choose the best Canadian album solely on the basis of artistic merit, did the judges listen to that little Kevin Drew record called Spirit If...? I'll be hard pressed to find a better sounding record than that in recent times, in and outside Canada.

Listen to a stream of the entire album here. See how you feel at the end of it all.