Karkwa

Polaris and Juno-winning Canadian indie-rockers Karkwa formed in Quebec in 1998 and spent the next few decades pouring their emotive, soaring melodies into a slew of hit albums. The group—comprising vocalist and guitarist Louis-Jean Cormier, keyboardist François Lafontaine, bass guitarist Martin Lamontagne, percussionist Julien Sagot, and drummer Stéphane Bergeron—rose to prominence after finishing as finalists at the tastemaking Francouvertes contest in 2001, and dropped their debut album Le Pensionnat des Établis two years later. Les Tremblements s'immobilisent followed in 2005 but it was with third full-length Le Volume du Vent that the group really started to draw a following. Released in 2008 (March 2009 in France), the LP was longlisted for Canada's esteemed Polaris Music Prize in 2008 and later certified gold by Music Canada. The band fared even better with their fourth album Les Chemins de verre, impressively scooping both the 2010 Polaris Music Prize (becoming the first Francophone act to do so) and the Juno Award for Francophone Album of the Year in 2011. Following the release of a live album, Karkwa Live—which reached number 25 on the Canadian Albums Chart in 2012—the group announced their hiatus. However, they made a comeback eleven years later with fifth studio LP Dans la seconde, which reached number 83 on the Canadian Billboard chart.

Please enable Javascript to view this page competely.